


Brighter Days

by WarpingAshes



Series: Brightest Days and Darkest Nights [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Drama, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21967429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarpingAshes/pseuds/WarpingAshes
Summary: After the final battle with the Decepticons, Jazz prepares himself to join Optimus and his team on Earth. With Prowl's death still fresh in his mind he finds Cybertron doesn't feel like home anymore. In the days before he leaves, he is forced to make difficult decisions involving Sentinel's leadership and the twins future on Cybertron.
Relationships: Jazz/Prowl
Series: Brightest Days and Darkest Nights [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874827
Comments: 94
Kudos: 100





	1. Chapter 1

Jazz honestly hadn’t wanted to return to Cybertron. It hadn’t felt right to leave Earth at first. It still didn’t, really, but Jazz convinced himself it was getting easier as the days passed by. He tried to convince himself the pain he felt in his spark was just stress related and not because he’d lost the only bot he’d ever loved. Though days turned into weeks, Prowl’s death wasn’t getting any easier to deal with. Jazz tried to focus on his duties but his thoughts would begin to focus on Prowl, or rather the distinct lack of Prowl.

If anyone noticed, they said nothing. Possibly out of respect, possibly because there was no good way to approach the topic. Jazz was leaning towards being more thankful that no one was mentioning Prowl to him. It let him believe he was coping better than he really was and pretend he could focus on his duties. He was incredibly thankful Sentinel hadn’t seemed to notice he was ever so slightly out of it. Sentinel wasn’t the most understanding bot out there, and he certainly wasn’t the most sensitive to others and their emotions, so the less Sentinel knew about Jazz’s personal thoughts the better.

Besides, this was all supposed to be temporary, Jazz reminded himself. Going back to Cybertron had been an act of goodwill towards Sentinel. He was settling into his role as Magnus and Jazz knew that it would be a rocky transition. He was here until things started settling down and then he was to join Optimus and his team on Earth. The invitation to join the team had come shortly after the final battle with Megatron. Jazz had wanted to accept immediately, but it felt wrong to abandon the Elite Guard during such a vulnerable time for them. Sentinel hadn’t been happy to hear about the offer, and even less so when Jazz admitted he was considering it, but he likely knew he couldn’t keep Jazz on Cybertron for long.

Cybertron may have been the home he was born to, but it was less and less the home his spark yearned for. Jazz...didn’t know what to think of that. So he opted not to.

“Working hard or hardly working?” Sentinel’s voice pulled Jazz from his thoughts.

He sat up from his work station, looking behind him to find Sentinel standing over him. He could tell Sentinel was irritated just from his posture alone. Jazz vaguely recalled Sentinel mentioning a meeting earlier that day and figured it must’ve gone sour.

“You’ve been staring at that file for ten minutes.” Sentinel said.

“You know me, I like to be thorough.” Jazz replied coolly.

Sentinel hummed, considering his answer for a moment.

“At least I know someone around here who takes their work seriously.” Sentinel eventually settled on. “A few flight-capable Autobots might want to start taking notes.”

The twins, Jazz realized. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who Sentinel was referring to. There were only so many Autobots who had gained the ability of flight…

“They do somethin?” Jazz asked.

“More like they  _ didn’t _ .” The other bot said, clearly tired. “They ditched their work, _ again _ , to go  _ flying _ .  _ Again _ ! I don’t get it. No Autobot in their right mind would like flying that much! I’m pretty much done with trying to get them to be responsible. Unfortunately that means someone else is going to have to pick up their slack.”

Jazz frowned.

“You wouldn’t mind, right?” Sentinel was so predictable. “A  _ thorough _ bot such as yourself wouldn’t want some half-witted flying Autobots to mess up such important work, would you?”

“...’Course not.” Jazz said after a moment.

“That’s what I thought.”

There was a brief pause in the conversation where Sentinel stood, looking incredibly proud of himself. Jazz kept a calm exterior, but in truth he just wanted this conversation to be over so he could actually get his work done...and then get the twins’ work done. The sooner it was all over, the sooner he could go to Earth.

“I’ll send you the files in a little while. I have another meeting to get to soon and I want to be prepared for this one.” Sentinel said.

_ And you weren’t for the last one? _ Jazz wondered.

“The twins disregarding their responsibilities couldn’t have come at a better time, actually…” Sentinel muttered under his breath.

“What makes you say that?”

“Huh? Nothing. Perceptor and I have a lot to talk about when it comes to them and their...ah, development, in the Elite Guard. Nothing to worry about,”

“Sure…” Jazz trailed off. He hesitated before speaking up again, but something felt off about Sentinel’s words, “If you think they’re becoming a problem, I’m sure they could learn from someone with a bit more experience how to act. They’ll calm down if they’re given the right role model.”

“Who would  _ want _ that kind of task?”

“I wouldn’t mind,”

“Ha! That’s funny, Jazz. Sometimes I forget you have a sense of humor.” Sentinel shook his head, smiling and chuckling, “Even if you were being serious, didn’t you have plans to transfer to Earth? I guess as Magnus I could always deny that offer--”

Jazz felt his spark freeze for just a second,

“--But they just aren’t worth it. Anyways, good chat, keep up the good work, all that. I’ve got meetings to attend to.”

Sentinel gave him a half hearted wave before turning and leaving Jazz to his own devices once more. Jazz let his expression and posture fall the second Sentinel was gone. Talking to the other bot could be so tiring at times… Sighing heavily, he turned back to the files he was supposed to have been working on this whole time.

He wasn’t anywhere near complete with them, but the sooner he got them done the sooner he could go to Earth. Well, those and the twins’ work they’d neglected to do. It wouldn’t be easy, but he’d been through worse. Much, much worse... 

Shaking any negative thoughts from his processor, he focused himself on his work until late into the evening. He managed to finish a good portion of his work and even read over the files twice just for good measure. Everything seemed solid. He decided that was a good place to leave it for the night and began the walk back to his private corridors.

He paused halfway to his room, hearing shuffling just around the corner. Carefully, he made his way to the edge of the hall and listened,

“Shh! You are making loud noise!”

“Me?! You are the one making loud noise!”

The twins. Jazz let himself relax and stepped around the corner,

“You’re both being loud.” He informed them.

The twins turned to face him, optics wide. Their expressions said one thing: caught in the act.

“Mr. Jazz sir!” The twins exclaimed in unison.

“What are you two doing sneaking around this late?” Jazz asked, servos on his hips.

The twins shared a slightly panicked look before Jetfire jumped to defend himself.

“It was not me having the idea! It was Jetstorm!”

Jetstorm gasped, insulted,

“He lies!”

Jazz barely resisted the urge to roll his optics. It was a little late for him to be handling two rowdy twins, but he kept his chill. For everyone’s sake.

“Calm down, you don’t gotta accuse anyone of lying. No one’s in trouble here, I’m just asking a question.”

Jetfire looked hesitant but nodded, trusting Jazz to keep his word.

“We went flying.” He explained, “It was getting too much staying inside.”

“Too uhh...stressing.” Jetstorm tried to clarify.

Jazz could sympathize. Things hadn’t been easy since Megatron’s defeat and the twins were still very new to this. The clean up and paperwork that came after a conflict wasn’t anything like what they had been getting used to. It was a lot to learn in such a short time. It made sense that the twins would get stressed over it.

“All Mr. Sentinel is keeping asking us is reading files and writing new ones.” Jetstorm continued, frowning.

“When we try we do it wrong.” Jetfire added, crossing his arms over his chest plates and looking a little too much like he was pouting. Jetstorm promptly copied the action. “He is not being  _ happy _ with us.”

Jazz sighed.

“Sentinel has high expectations.” Jazz explained, “And he probably doesn’t really get it yet that you two are still in the learning phase of all this. But you gotta try. You can’t keep running off and going flying. That’s just gonna make him be harder on you.”

“Flying is only thing that make stress go away.” Jetstorm argued. “And Mr. Sentinel isn’t wanting us to fly! At all!”

Ok, Jazz could see how that was a problem. It wasn’t a secret that the twins loved flying. Restricting their ability to do so was not going to go over well. That should have been obvious but it was very like Sentinel not to think about the consequences of his actions and just expect things to work out in his favor.

“How about this then; what if I help you learn how to do the paperwork Sentinel wants you to do and as a reward I’ll take you flying?” Jazz offered.

“But Mr. Sentinel didn’t want us to--”

“It’ll be our little secret. Something Sentinel doesn’t need to know about.”

He could see the gears turning in the twins’ processors. Jazz wasn’t exactly eager to go behind Sentinel’s back like this but he himself had once said rules were made to be broken…

“Yes!” Jetfire said enthusiastically. “No more getting into the trouble if we do it that way!”

“Exactly. So we have a deal?”

“Deal!” The twins said.

“Good. Now that means no more sneaking out at night to fly, ya dig?”

“Yessir!”

Jazz smiled, just a bit.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then for your first lesson in paperwork.”

The twins gave him a salute before running off to their own corridors. Jazz couldn’t help but feel a spark of pride at how he’d handled that. The twins weren’t hard to get through to if you were just patient… Unfortunately though, Sentinel was less and less patient nowadays. Jazz just hoped that once he left for Earth things would be ok for those two.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz gets closer to the twins; Sentinel reveals some troubling information.

Coming online the next morning was harder than it should’ve been. Granted, Jazz had stayed up late doing work and talking to the twins, but still he could normally power through a little lack of recharge. Guess today just wasn’t one of those days. He forced himself up and did some light stretches to get ready for the day. Hopefully the stretches would help wake him up a little, too…

He was about halfway through his routine when his processor began to wander. He remembered a time when he’d compared routines with Prowl. Their routines started nearly the same but ended so very differently. Prowl had incorporated some stretches and yoga poses the organics on Earth liked to practice, where Jazz had never even thought to expand his routine in such a way. He allowed himself to smile briefly at the memory before he paused entirely.

Would Prowl be proud of him if he could see him now? Tired and working himself too hard, all for what? To get to Earth? To get away from his real duties as a part of the Elite Guard? Wasn’t that what he was doing, in the end? Running away from the problems Sentinel was causing on Cybertron? But would Prowl see it that way…?

“You would be so disappointed if you could see me now.” Jazz muttered to himself. He ran a servo over his face, exhaling heavily.

He tried to remind himself he wasn’t running. Optimus  _ invited _ him to join and he was simply taking him up on that offer. He was going to Earth to learn new skills, see new things. It wasn’t running. He _ wasn’t _ running away from his problems, he was better than that--

A loud knocking on his door caught him off guard. Jazz didn’t jump, but he did flip around to face the door lightning fast, defenses ready. Upon hearing the telltale bickering of the twins outside, he let himself relax and shook his head.

What was he doing getting so worked up this early in the day?

Jazz walked over to the door and pressed the button to open it. He was greeted with the twins, chipper and ready to go. Primus, he wondered how they maintained such energy in the morning. He’d never been that much of a morning person when he was their age…

“I take you two are ready for your lessons today?” Jazz asked.

He was met with two enthusiastic nods and bright smiles. Well, at least some bots were having a good morning.

“Alright then, let’s get going.” He closed his door behind him and began the walk to his office space. Sentinel had no doubt forwarded him the twins’ work by this point so at least he could teach them in the comfort of his private office. “So, tell me what’s got you two so confused about the paperwork Sentinel wants you to do?”

“Everything?” Jetstorm offered.

It wasn’t the best start once they got to the office. Jazz quickly realized the twins were so clueless because they couldn’t read for more than twenty seconds at a time without getting bored. He had to remind himself they were young and all they’d been taught thus far by the Elite Guard was how to fight. It made sense that they got used to high energy situations and preferred them over non stimulating work. That didn’t mean they were off the hook though…

“Reading simple reports should be the easy part of this, but this is what you’re both struggling to do the most…” Jazz mumbled halfway through this disaster of a lesson.

Jetstorm just shrugged from where he sat to Jazz’s left and Jetfire, sat on Jazz’s right side, seemed to be daydreaming already. He’d never seen the two so unwilling to work before.

“Jetfire we need to work something out or else Sentinel is gonna be _ mad _ .” Jazz warned.

Jetfire seemed to snap out of his thoughts and frowned. The orange twin groaned, laying his helm down on the desk Jazz had scattered the datapads on.

“It is not of  _ my _ fault this is so boring.” Jetfire whined.

“Brother is right.” Jetstorm agreed. “We liked it more fighting.”

Jazz thought for a moment. They had low attention spans but a lot of pent up energy for sure. Flying was one way to release some of that energy but maybe sparring would be good too?

“How often do you two spar?” Jazz asked.

Jetstorm thought for a moment but Jetfire just frowned.

“We do not.” Jetfire said, clearly bitter.

“Not anymore.” Jetstorm added. “Mr. Sentinel said paperwork better.”

“Alright.” Jazz said, standing up, “Let’s fix that then.”

The twins shared a confused look, but stood and followed Jazz out of the room. He took them down to the sparring areas and set up a private room for them. He opened the door to the sparring room and gestured for the twins to go inside. They eagerly did so.

“What simulation are we going to be kicking the aft of?” Jetstorm asked, a definite hop in his step.

“Language.” Jazz warned. “And no simulation today. You’ll be fighting me.”

Jetfire hid a laugh poorly.

“But we beat you when we combine?” Jetstorm pointed out. “It is not a long time at all to fight!”

“You won’t be combining into Safeguard. You’ll be fighting me one on one.”

This seemed to grab the twins’ attention. It wasn’t often they did _ anything _ without each other, much less fight. They exchanged a quick look that Jazz couldn’t quite place before their attention was back on him. He could see the eager look in their optics. Looks like they were ready to accept a challenge.

“Who’s first?”

“Me!” Jetfire jumped at the opportunity. Jetstorm looked like he was going to protest but decided against it and went off to the side so he could sit and watch. Jetfire placed his servos on his hips, grinning. “You are not going to be the winning one.” He said confidently.

Jazz let out a small chuckle,

“We’ll see about that,” He got into a fighting stance, “We’ll do this like the organic’s tag game, got it? Whoever gets three tags wins.”

“Yessir!”

With that, the duel began. Jazz sprinted into action, gaining a good bit of ground but Jetfire evaded his first attempted hit a little too easily. For good measure, Jetfire sent out a blast of fire, forcing Jazz to back off. Jazz avoided the blast and paused, taking in Jetfire’s stance, trying to anticipate what he’d do next.

Jetfire seemed to get impatient.

“You are done? My turn!” Jetfire charged up a blast and shot it at Jazz, making him dodge to the right. Jetfire charged towards him, shooting small blasts of fire and trying to get Jazz where he wanted him. He got close and reached out to tag Jazz--

Only for Jazz to duck, sweep his legs, and grab him. He forced him face down onto the floor, putting some pressure on Jetfire’s back to keep him down. He placed a light tap on Jetfire’s helm,

“Tag.” Jazz said, smirking.

Jetfire huffed, rolling onto his back the second Jazz backed off. He glared, but Jazz could tell the mood was still light. He let Jetfire pick himself up and think of a new strategy before the next round began. They both put some distance between each other and took their battle stances.

Jazz stayed low to the ground, ready to sprint in either direction Jetfire attacked from. Jetfire thought for a moment. If Jazz was prepared to dodge left or right, how about he attacked head on? Quickly, he transformed and took off in a straight line. Jazz ducked, barely getting out of the way before Jetfire rammed into him. Jetfire made a sudden turn, transformed again, and hit Jazz with a dropkick.

While Jazz recovered from the blow, he felt a tap on his arm,

“Tag,” Jetfire said, tone oozing cockiness.

“Not half bad,” Jazz complimented, smiling.

Now even, the two stopped holding back as much. Their next clash was both of them dodging blows and trying to dish out twice as many. Jazz nearly got a lucky hit on Jetfire, but the jet quickly backflipped away get some distance. He shot a series of fireballs in Jazz’s direction, earning a cheer of encouragement from his twin.

Jazz let Jetfire take the lead with his fire, throwing out as many blasts as he could. It didn’t take long for the area to become too consumed by his fire, making it harder for him to see where Jazz had gone. Jazz used the fire as cover, and moved swiftly to attack through the flames. He successfully took Jetfire down and tagged him again.

Jetfire didn’t take long to recover this time, determined to get the win. Jazz could tell he was getting a little frustrated and even though this was supposed to be fun and games, that didn’t mean Jazz was going to take it easy on him. Jetfire tried to take flight but Jazz managed to hit him with a well timed attack from his nunchaku, sending the jet spiraling back to the ground. He felt a tap on his helm again before he could recover and looked up to see Jazz standing over him. The bot extended a servo to help him up.

Jetfire took the help and allowed himself to be hoisted up.

“You did good.” Jazz complimented genuinely. “Have fun?”

Jetfire found himself nodding. Even though he’d lost, it had been nice to cut loose and experiment with his attacks a bit.

“Hah!” Jetstorm laughed off to the side, “You lost!”

The orange jet promptly turned to yell at his twin,

“I will do better than you!” Jetfire bet, “Let us see if you can be winning, hmm!”

“Easy!” Jetstorm stood and walked over. “How can he do the tag if he cannot get close, hmm?”

As if to show off, which he definitely was, Jetstorm charged up a blast of wind and aimed it at Jazz. It wasn’t his most powerful for sure, but it was enough for Jazz to be pushed back all the same. Ah, right, maybe tag hadn’t been the best idea going up against Jetstorm.

“Not fair.” Jetfire complained, but walked off to the side and sat. “Kick him in the aft, Mr. Jazz!”

“Language--”

Before Jazz could finish scolding him, Jetstorm aimed a huge gust of wind at him. Jazz flew back, unable to react in time. He hit the wall with a thud. His optics were thrown for a loop but he heard Jetstorm approach him and felt the tap to his shoulder armor.

“Tag.” Jetstorm said, tone light and playful.

“Guess we’re starting then.” Jazz said, shuttering his optics as they finally went back to functioning normally.

“Expect the expected!” Jetstorm said, walking away from Jazz to at least give him the idea of having agency in this fight.

“I think you mean ‘expect the unexpected,’” Jazz corrected, standing up.

Jetstorm shrugged.

“It is the same. You will still be losing.”

Jazz realized he very well could lose this match. Deciding not to go down without a fight, he crouched and took off towards the right. Jetstorm reacted quickly and tried to aim his wind at him, but he couldn’t seem to catch up. Jazz used this to his advantage to try and close the distance between them.

Where Jetstorm could play keep away, he didn’t have much for an up close and personal confrontation. He just had to get close--

Easier said than done. Jetstorm barely managed to create a blast strong enough to send Jazz flying backwards again, but he managed all the same. Jazz managed to land on his feet this time, but as he dealt with the attack he’d missed Jetstorm taking flight. He only realized Jetstorm was above him when it was already too late and there was a tap placed on his helm.

“Tag again!”

The blue jet landed on the ground, smirking, arms crossed over his chest plates. Jazz let out a small laugh, a bit surprised with how easily Jetstorm was wiping the floor with him. One more tag and Jetstorm would win...he had to begin thinking outside of the box. He recognized Jetstorm charging his next attack for what it was and prepared to dodge. He had to think, what could he do to end this quickly? How could he get close? What did he have to do… What would  _ Prowl _ do?

Jazz was struck with an idea. He faked left just long enough for Jetstorm to invest into the attack, sending a huge blast of wind in the direction he’d thought Jazz was going in, but Jazz recovered and went right instead. He dashed up to Jetstorm, not wasting any time in hitting him in the arm with his weapon to discourage any last attempt at blasting Jazz away. Jetstorm recoiled from the hit, giving Jazz the opening he needed.

He faked a kick to the midsection and Jetstorm’s arms flew down to protect himself, only for Jazz to stop halfway and tap him on the arm instead.

“Tag.” Jazz said, proud of himself for his fast thinking.

Jestorm was stunned into silence. He recovered after a couple of seconds, but it was clear his resolve was shaken. In the end, Jazz knew that would be all he needed. Jetstorm abandoned his earlier plan of keep away and tried to fight more like Jetfire, Jazz noticed. It didn’t compliment his wind abilities very well and Jazz wound up getting his second tag painfully quickly.

Jetstorm didn’t recover well after that, seemingly out of ideas. He tried transforming and keeping himself away from Jazz, but that let Jazz take the lead far too much. When Jetstorm thought he had an opening, it was only because Jazz wanted him to think that. Jetstorm transformed back and sent a gust of wind Jazz’s way, but it was sloppily aimed and gave Jazz the opening he needed to get close again. He officially won the match with a tag to Jetstorm’s helm.

“H-How?!” Jetstorm stuttered, optics wide with confusion.

“Processor over matter.” Jazz answered with a small, barely there smile.  _ Couldn’t have done it without ya, Prowler _ . He cleared his vocalizer and focused his attention fully back on the twins. “Did you two work off some steam?”

The twins nodded.

“Good. Wanna try reading some of those files again?”

“Do...do we have to…” Jetfire tried.

“Yes, you do. It’s not just an order from Sentinel now.  _ I’m  _ ordering you to at least try to read some of the files.” Jazz tried.

He lead them back to the office and was pleasantly surprised to find they actually got some work done this time. The files they read were fairly short and didn’t need much editing, if any, but it was something. It was  _ progress _ . Jazz found he could even finish up some more of his own work while they did theirs and soon, evening rolled around.

The twins started getting restless again, and this time Jazz was in the same boat. He recalled promising to take them flying if they did good...he figured he might as well keep that promise.

“I think that’s enough for the day.” He said as they finished work on another file. “You did good today--”

“So that means flying, yes?” Jetstorm asked eagerly.

Jazz couldn’t suppress a smile at his eagerness.

“Nailed it.”

There was a knock at his office door that interrupted the conversation. Jazz couldn’t remember anyone comming him or saying they were stopping by today… He stood and made his way over to the door just in time for the person on the other side to put in their override codes. The door slid open revealing Sentinel. He looked about ready to start shouting his head off when he noticed the twins.

“There you two are! Slacking off again, huh!? And interrupting Jazz from his work?!” Sentinel was just an octave away from shouting at the top of his lungs already.

The twins jumped at his tone, looking at each other in shock, then to Sentinel.

“No, that is not--”

“We were doing the work--”

Jazz stepped between Sentinel and the view of the twins. He placed a servo on Sentinel’s shoulder to try to calm him,

“Hey, hey, they were doing work. They got the reviewed datapads and everything to prove it.” Jazz said, forcing himself to keep his voice steady.

“They were? Then why in Primus’ name aren’t they in the work area I assigned them!”

“They just needed a little help.”

Sentinel scoffed.

“They were making a lot of progress today.” Jazz tried. “I didn’t mind helping them. It worked out for all of us.”

“Whatever.” Sentinel muttered, shaking Jazz’s hand off of him. “When you’re free, you and I need to have a word.”

Sentinel was looking at Jazz with a look that clearly told him he was expected to clear the room immediately. Jazz looked at the twins, noting their worried expressions. He sighed heavily, turning back to Sentinel.

“I was gonna take the twins to go get fuel. After I do that, we can talk.” Jazz said, shocking Sentinel.

“Excuse me?”

“Mechs gotta fuel, S.P.” He said lightly, “Unless it’s urgent, I’ll be back in a megacycle or two.”

“Wh-- Fine! Fine. And that’s S.M.-- Sentinel  _ Magnus _ , to you!” Sentinel clearly wasn’t pleased, but it must not have been that pressing of an issue. He told Jazz to meet him in his office when he got back and left the trio to their own devices afterwards.

There was an uncomfortable silence that took over the room after Sentinel’s departure. Jazz suddenly felt very tired, but tried to keep himself relaxed on the outside. He turned to the twins with a small smile, hoping to ease the anxiety that was practically radiating off of them.

“You two still wanted to go flying, didn’t you?” He asked.

The twins perked up a bit at the mention of flying, as he expected. The worry didn’t leave their expressions completely, but it was a start. This time he let them take the lead-- they knew the best places for flying on Cybertron better than he did. He just tagged along to make sure no one raised any questions if they got caught. He...didn’t exactly trust them to come up with a convincing cover story.

The three eventually reached a relatively empty and largely abandoned area of Cybertron. Nothing to restrict them from flying and having fun, but far enough that it wasn’t likely they’d get caught. Jazz had to admit they thought this part of their sneaking out plans through. Being unable to fly himself, Jazz ended up sitting and watching as the twins flew to their spark’s content. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he watched.

Jazz had to admit he was curious as to what it must be like to be able to fly. The twins obviously enjoyed it, but most bots, like Sentinel, turned their noses up in disgust at the mere thought. Flying was a  _ Decepticon  _ thing, so it was bad by default to them. Jazz didn’t see it that way though. ‘Cons were just built differently, but the act of flying wasn’t owned by the Decepticons. The twins were living proof of that, right?

Eventually the twins seemed satisfied and came back down to the ground, big smiles on their faces. It was such a contrast to how upset they’d looked just a megacycle earlier, but one Jazz was thankful for. They headed back and Jazz used the walk back as time to prepare himself for whatever Sentinel had wanted to talk to him about.

Jazz parted ways with the twins and headed to Sentinel’s office. He only had to knock twice before the door slid open, revealing the Magnus sat at his desk, arms folded neatly over the table.

“Sentinel Magnus,” Jazz said respectfully in greeting.

Sentinel smirked a little at the usage of his full title.

“Jazz, good to finally talk to you.” Sentinel began, standing up and coming out from behind his desk. “I can’t imagine what the twins were doing that held you up for so long.”

“You know how they are.” Jazz said, shrugging.

“Trust me, I do.” The larger mech grumbled, sighing heavily before continuing, “It’s actually them that I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?”

Sentinel hummed, optics looking down to the floor as he thought about what to say and how to say it.

“Being Magnus isn’t easy. You’re given a lot of responsibility to do the right thing and every bot looks to you for guidance. Sometimes you need to get your hands dirty…” The blue mech trailed off, optics snapping up to meet Jazz’s. “I knew that when I was given the position and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to keep the peace-- to keep the bots under my protection at peace.”

Jazz shifted where he stood, a feeling of uneasiness washing over him. Why was Sentinel telling him this? Did something happen? Was it the Decepticons?

“My main objective is getting rid of the Decepticons. They’re the biggest threat to the peace us Autobots work so _ hard _ to keep. Megatron and his gang are in captivity but that’s not enough. I’m setting an execution date for them all.”

Jazz widened his optics.

“It shouldn’t take more than an orbital cycle to finalize. No one really denies that it’s the best thing.” Sentinel continued, “But executing the Decepticons opened another door. One I had to convince Perceptor and others to take.”

“And what’s that?”

“The Jettwins will be offlined on the execution date.”

Jazz froze. He couldn’t have heard that right. There was no way Sentinel had said… 

“Oh, come on, don’t look so surprised.” Sentinel said, trying to sound like it wasn’t two bots  _ lives _ they were talking about, “This was always on the table. I’m just the one doing what needs to be done--”

“And why does that _ need  _ to be done?” Jazz snapped, surprising Sentinel. “What did they do to deserve being  _ offlined _ ?!”

“They’re disobedient and ignorant, but more than that they have Decepticon coding in them! That’s all this is about-- all it’s ever been about! They have the tools necessary to turn on us and hit us where it hurts!” Sentinel argued, “This is a preventative measure!”

“They’re Autobots! They’re loyal to the Elite Guard, you know that!” Jazz clenched his fists at his side, “They look up to you, you know that, you can’t do this to them--”

“I’m Magnus! I can do what I want!” Sentinel shouted.

There was an uneasy silence that passed over the two bots. Jazz was shaking, ever so slightly. It took everything in his power to keep still and not lash out at his superior officer. Sentinel narrowed his optics and looked down at Jazz.

“Ultra Magnus wanted them to be tools to help win the war. Well, the war is  _ over. _ The Decepticons are going to be  _ executed. _ There’s no need for them anymore.” Sentinel said steadily, like he’d rehearsed this part of the conversation. “As it stands, they're just a risk to the comfort of their comrades and to the future of the Autobots as a whole.”

“They didn’t ask to be this way.” Jazz said softly, not sure what else he could say. Sentinel made his mind up. The twins were going to be deactivated, treated like Decepticon criminals. There was nothing he could say to change the Magnus’ mind and he knew that, but he felt he should remind him that it was never their choice to become what they are today.

“I’m aware.” Sentinel said. “But that doesn’t change _ what  _ they are and the fact that they  _ are _ dangerous.”

Jazz looked away from Sentinel in disgust. How could he say that? He’d helped train the twins, he knew the twins would never intentionally hurt an ally. They made mistakes sometimes and they weren’t the easiest to handle at times but that shouldn’t matter. What should’ve mattered is that the twins were loyal and they looked up to Sentinel. They tried their best for him above all else, couldn’t Sentinel see that?

“When are you going to tell them?” Jazz asked, not daring to look back at his superior.

“We decided not to inform them until the day of the execution.” Sentinel informed him.

“What will happen until then?”

Sentinel shrugged.

“Things will go normally. Nothing will change in how they’re treated or what their duties are… I know you aren’t happy with this but you understand why it needs to be done, right?”

“Sure, sir.” Jazz forced himself to say.

“You’re a smart bot.” Sentinel said, smiling. “Look at this way, you’ll be with Optimus and his group of glitches by the time this all happens.”

Jazz let out a shaky sigh.

“Will they be in pain when it happens?” He had to ask.

“Huh?”

“Will the twins be in pain when you deactivate them.”

Sentinel shook his helm.

“They’ll be taken to Perceptor and put to sleep. Just, they won’t wake up afterwards. We aren’t  _ monsters _ , we’re not going to make them feel it.”

“...Got it.”

“I knew you’d understand in the end, Jazz.”

The conversation didn’t last long after that. Anything Sentinel had tried to say was met with an unenthused one word response from Jazz. Eventually Sentinel gave up and let Jazz leave. The white mech couldn’t have gotten out of the room fast enough. His processor was swimming with thoughts, questions, accusations-- he wouldn’t have been able to stay calm if he’d stayed near Sentinel.

He hightailed it back to his room and locked the door behind him. For a long time, Jazz just...stood there. He went over his conversation with Sentinel countless times, making sure he remembered every detail Sentinel had given up. Sentinel said the execution would take an orbital cycle to set up, and that the twins wouldn’t be deactivated until the execution date. Jazz was due to leave for Earth in a deca cycle. He had one deca cycle to figure out how to smuggle the twins off Cybertron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again Hypo for the beta! We're getting into the major conflicts now and once I get started I'm not stopping.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz begins planning a way to help save the twins from being deactivated.

Jazz spent the next solar cycle holed up in his room. He claimed he was doing work and didn’t want to be disturbed, and that was kind of true. Saving the twins counted as work, right? He spent all morning reading over any and all expected shipments, missions, and visits to and from Cybertron coming in the next orbital cycle. A lot of them seemed like dead ends, but one could work if he played his cards right…

Rodimus Prime was set to leave on a long journey shortly before the execution date. He was taking a large crew, which equalled a large ship… Rodimus was a good bot. Jazz felt if he explained the situation to him, he would be more than willing to help. Everyone would likely be too occupied with the execution to be to notice if the twins went missing a few solar cycles early. It was a plan that could very well work.

Jazz just needed a reason to convince the twins to leave, he realized. He could always say it was an order, but then there was the risk of them asking Sentinel about it after he left. He could tell them not to ask Sentinel, but that would make it obvious something was wrong. ...He could tell them the truth. But could he bring himself to do that?

He tried to picture the twins reacting to the news. He figured there’d be a lot of anger and sadness, but worst of all he pictured the look of betrayal they’d no doubt have. Would they even trust him after learning what the Autobots were planning on doing to do them? Jazz wouldn’t blame them if they completely lost faith in the Autobots after that. No, he decided, he couldn’t tell them the truth.

The easiest thing to do was order them to go with Rodimus and tell them to keep quiet about it. Even if it confused the twins, it was better than telling them the truth.

Jazz sighed, feeling worn out. He knew he had real work to do if he wanted to get to Earth on time but this new information was stressing him out. He couldn’t think of anything but what Sentinel had told him. Even if he tried to work, he knew his thoughts would just come back to the twins anyways.

He checked the time, noting it had been a while since he last fueled. He forced himself up, heading towards the door when some voices on the other side made him pause.

“Just do the knock!”

“No, you!”

The twins? Jazz opened the door to reveal it was, in fact, the twins hovering outside his room. He gave them a confused look.

“Mr. Jazz sir!” Jetfire jumped, meanwhile Jetstorm turned and began inspecting the wall as if it would make him look less suspicious.

“What are you two doing?” Jazz asked, genuinely confused.

“No one was seeing you all day.” Jetfire explained. Jetstorm gave up his wall inspection and turned back to Jazz,

“We were doing a check on you.”

“I appreciate that.” Jazz said with a small smile, “I’ve just been busy today, that’s all.”

The twins nodded.

“Us too.” Jetstorm said.

“Doing that paperwork Sentinel wanted you to do?” Jazz asked, trying not to cringe at the mention of Sentinel. He had to appear casual or else they’d know something was wrong, he reminded himself.

“Yes, but it is biggest boring thing!” Jestorm complained. “We did many works, we wanted a break.”

Jetfire nudged his brother roughly with his elbow,

“We were worrying, so we came to do the check.” Jetfire corrected. Jetstorm nodded quickly,

“I mean that instead.”

Jazz couldn’t suppress a laugh.

“It’s ok to be bored. I’m proud of you two for doing work without me though. That’s good.”

The two jets enjoyed the praise for a moment. Seeing them smile and soak up the praise only seemed to remind Jazz of their fate, though. He fought to keep his expression happy as his thoughts provided him with a hundred horrible scenarios of them being offlined. What if his plans didn’t work and Rodimus didn’t take them? What if Rodimus sold the twins out and they were offlined early? Sentinel had promised him it wouldn’t hurt, but what if it  _ did _ ?

“Mr. Jazz sir?” Jetfire’s curious voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Are you oki the doki?”

“I’m fine.” Jazz said. “Just a lot on my processor. Nothing you two need to worry about.”

“Can we help?” Jetstorm asked.

Jazz shook his head. There was nothing the twins could do in this situation and that’s what made it worse. None of this was their choice or in their power to change.

“Nothing you two can do, really.” Jazz admitted, “I was gonna get fuel. Wanna join?”

The twins nodded enthusiastically and followed Jazz to get some energon. They’d fueled earlier that day, but didn’t seem to mind having a bit more. The three fell into easy conversation after a little while. It helped get Jazz’s mind off of the more macabre thoughts filling his processor.

“Say, you two are twins. What’s that like?” Jazz asked at some point. “Ultra Magnus said you were born from the same protoform but you seem pretty in sync.”

Jetfire seemed to consider the question for a moment while Jetstorm simply shrugged and took a sip from his energon.

“It is like… I feel brother here,” Jetfire pointed to his spark chamber, “And that is how it is for me.”

“He feels what I feel.” Jestorm offered, “And I feel his feelings.”

“It can be fun but--” Jetfire began,

“Not as fun in fights.” Jetstorm finished. “Because his feelings are too loud.”

“Hey!” The orange jet made an offended face, “You are the one that has loud feelings!”

Jetstorm just looked amused.

“You are the one getting troubled in fights.” The blue jet said, “I am having a good fight and then  _ you _ do the messing up.”

Jazz considered their words as the two began to bicker. He knew they were close and likely bonded on some level, but the way they spoke made it seem intense. The only bonds Jazz was familiar with were amica and conjunx bonds, both of which he’d never personally had. He knew on some level what they both entailed; baring your spark to another and accepting them as a part of you forever, but twins were a rarity for Cybertronians. Much rarer than amica or conjunxes. There wasn’t a lot saying what the experience was like for twins.

“It must be nice to have that kind of bond with someone.” He said without thinking, interrupting the twins argument.

“Huh?” The twins asked in unison.

“Even if you make each other mad sometimes, you know you can rely on each other. It must be nice, that’s all.” Jazz tried to explain, “I...never got the chance to open my spark up to another bot like that. It must be an experience, feeling each other’s emotions like that.”

“Experience… That is one way to put it.” Jetstorm said, giving an exaggeratedly tired look towards his twin.

Jetfire lightly smacked his brother on the shoulder, igniting another argument between the two almost instantly. Jazz allowed himself to zone out a bit as he finished his energon. He found his mind on Prowl, this time. Everything he’d read on conjunxes lead him to believe he’d have been able to feel a lot of Prowl’s emotions through the bond had they been able to go through with it before...well, everyone knew how that ended. Jazz couldn’t see himself opening up to another bot like that--conjunx or otherwise-- for a very, very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update this week because I won't be around the next two weeks! Sadly this means no update next Wednesday, but I'm considering doing a double update before I leave! I still hope you enjoy this chapter, even if I end up being unable to post another before leaving <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz sets his plans into motion. Sentinel has plans of his own.

Jazz managed to find Rodimus early the next cycle. He happened to get lucky and spotted the red mech in the halls and with Jazz being Jazz, it hadn’t been hard to strike up some light conversation. He inquired a bit about Rodimus’ expedition he was set to go on, wanting to make sure things lined up with what he’d read before. It did.

It was almost too good to be true. The ship Rodimus was taking was large, the crew was made up of little over a hundred bots, and there would be plenty of room for the twins if Rodimus agreed. Rodimus seemed very excited about the journey to come. Jazz hoped that positive attitude would stick when he brought up the twins. When he noticed they were alone in the halls, he decided it was now or never.

“Rodimus, there was actually something I needed to ask of you.” Jazz admitted, leaning up against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

“What is it?” Rodimus asked curiously.

Jazz hesitated for a moment before speaking, catching Rodimus’ full attention. He was taking a leap of faith in telling Rodimus about Sentinel’s plans for the twins. If he read Rodimus wrong and the mech ended up agreeing with Sentinel, this would end with Jazz behind bars. He knew that and yet...he felt he had to try.

“You mentioned your ship had room for last minute additions to the crew.” Jazz began carefully, “Would you mind taking a few more mechs on your journey?”

“Not at all. But...I thought you were set to go to Earth in just under a deca cycle?”

“It wouldn’t be me joining you. It would be Jetfire and Jetstorm.”

Rodimus seemed a little surprised.

“The flying twins, right?” He inquired. Jazz nodded. “I’m surprised Sentinel is allowing them to be assigned to the mission. He always seemed to keep them quite close.”

The white mech tried not to let any bitterness show in his expression. Even so, he couldn’t keep the frown off his face. He briefly shut his optics, bracing himself for the worst just in case, before turning to look Rodimus in the optics with a serious look.

“They aren’t being assigned to the mission. I’m asking you to take them with you as a favor to get them away from Sentinel.” Jazz admitted. “Sentinel has no idea what I’m asking you to do and if everything goes well here, he never will.”

Rodimus tried to hide his shock but did a poor job of it. Jazz could tell he hadn’t anticipated that response and really, how could he have? As far as anyone knew, Jazz was a loyal and valued member of the Elite Guard who rarely, if ever, disobeyed orders. He’d been good enough to be one of Ultra Magnus’ right hand mechs. To Rodimus and others, Jazz was likely a model soldier. To hear he was going behind his Magnus’ back would be a shock to anyone.

“You’re asking me to go behind Sentinel Magnus’ back.” Rodimus realized, optics wide. “Why would you ask me to do something like that?” The red mech’s voice had dropped to a harsh whisper, likely paranoid that anyone could overhear something at any moment. If he was caught even talking about something like this it would end his career for sure.

“Sentinel is planning to deactivate the twins.” Jazz said, “Says that because of their Decepticon CNA they’re a risk to the peace we’ve achieved. I disagree and I’m not gonna sit back and let him kill them.”

Rodimus took a moment to process the information Jazz had given him. He looked confused mostly, a bit hesitant, and a little angry if Jazz was reading him right. Jazz secretly hoped the anger was directed towards Sentinel. He deserved anger right about now.

“...You aren’t lying, are you.” Rodimus realized, frowning. “He’s really going to deactivate them.”

“He is…” Jazz sighed, shaking his head. “The twins are loyal to the Elite Guard and the Autobot cause. A few lines of coding doesn’t automatically make them the enemy, but he just...doesn’t see it that way.”

“The twins were brave to go through what they did for the Elite Guard. It couldn’t have been easy for them, and for this to be how Sentinel repays them… It makes me sick.” Rodimus admitted. “I’ll do what I can to get them a safe place on the ship.”

Jazz visibly relaxed at the Prime’s words. He’d been right to trust Rodimus after all. He was glad that the twins would have someone reliable like Rodimus to rely on.

“I have to ask though. Why did you come to me with this?” Rodimus asked quietly.

“You’re a good bot who wants to do the right thing. Everyone says you try your best no matter what task you’re given and that they can rely on you for anything. You’ve got a reputation, Rodimus. A good one. Not many bots have as much good behind their names as you do.” Jazz said honestly. “I may not know you too well, but I can just tell you’re an honest mech.”

Rodimus seemed a bit surprised at Jazz’s assessment of him. His cheeks flushed a bright red as the Prime fumbled for words.

“I-I- Thank you.” The mech settled on, “After the incident with the cosmic rust, I know some people doubted my abilities. To hear you say those things...it makes me feel like maybe I can come back from that failure.”

“There was no way that situation could’ve ended well. Ultra Magnus himself could have manned that space bridge and I don’t think it would’ve made a difference. You’ve got a lot of talent and a heart of gold from what I hear; you’ll be fine in the future. One failure can’t hold down a mech like you.”

Rodimus gave a flustered nod.

“Thank you again, Jazz. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure the twins stay safe while they’re on my ship. I give you my word.”

They shook on it. Before they parted ways, Rodimus told Jazz he would send him all the information on the expedition that he thought Jazz would need, just in case. Jazz greatly appreciated that. With more information, he would be able to make sure this plan would be perfect.

He ended up in his private office, reviewing the crew list. Most bots he knew to be good natured but there were a few that had been trouble makers in the past. Still, he had to trust Rodimus and his ability to lead this crew. He’d hand picked most of the crew, he knew these bots better than Jazz. There was one name that Jazz didn’t recognize. Drift? He didn’t dwell on the name much. He could see from Drift’s files that he’d been stationed far, far away from anywhere Jazz had ever been. He’d also been picked by Rodimus personally, he noticed. He shrugged and continued looking at the list.

He was so occupied with the list that he barely registered a knock on the door. Quickly, Jazz hid the files and pulled up some of the paperwork that he’d been neglecting. He tried not to cringe as he remembered the pile of datapads back in his room that needed reviewing. The door swung open. An override code.

Sentinel Magnus stood at the door, shoulders held high.

“Sentinel Magnus, sir.” Jazz greeted, trying to keep any bitterness out of his tone for his own sake. 

“Jazz.” Sentinel nodded in greeting. “I’ve come to check up on you after our ah...chat, the other cycle.”

Jazz’s mouth twitched. Was this mech for real?

“I just want to make sure you understand I’m only doing what I think needs to be done.” Sentinel said, frowning. “You didn’t seem to really _get that_ before.”

“No, I get it.” Jazz forced himself to say. “Don’t sweat it, S.P-- Sentinel sir.”

“Good, I’m glad we’re on the same page now.” The conversation should have ended there if that’s all Sentinel was there to say, but Jazz knew better. Sentinel was here for a different reason entirely. “You know, I was beginning to think you were too attached to the twins so I was thinking it’s probably good for you to move up your transfer to Earth.”

Jazz was surprised, but he schooled his expression before any of his shock could show. He feigned interest instead,

“You sure? I still got heaps of work to do before I can go.”

“It’s nothing that can’t be done by someone else.” Sentinel said, shrugging. “Plus I’m sure Optimus is making a mess of things. _As usual_ . He needs someone with at least a _little_ more tact to help clean up after him.”

Jazz hummed, considering Sentinel’s words. Despite his calm exterior, his processor was spinning, trying to figure out what Sentinel’s game was here. Sentinel didn’t want him to go to Earth so why in Primus’ name would he send Jazz off early?

“If it’s no big deal to you then I don’t mind leaving early. How soon were you thinking?” Jazz asked.

“Three solar cycles should be enough to divide the work up and let you get your things in order. If that’s ok with you?” Sentinel had a look in his optics that told Jazz this wasn’t up for debate.

Jazz played it cool and nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Seemingly surprised that this had gone so smoothly, Sentinel blinked in surprise for a moment before he recovered. He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest plates triumphantly.

“Good. Glad that we could agree on that. I know it’s not a lot of time to get any last minute plans taken care of, but I really think it’s for the best.” Sentinel said smugly. “Don’t worry about finishing your work, just send it to me and I’ll pawn it off on some other bot.”

It clicked for Jazz. Last minute plans. Sentinel thought he was going to try to do something with the twins. He’d been right, but it didn’t matter. Jazz already had his plans set with Rodimus. The twins would were going to be taken care of. He just had to give them orders to go with Rodimus and everything would be good to go. Jazz let himself feel a little proud of himself for beating Sentinel in this.

As Sentinel turned to leave, Jazz spoke one more time.

“Hey Sentinel? Thanks, for this. I mean it.”

Sentinel’s arrogant smirk didn’t budge.

“No problem, Jazz.”

Sentinel turned and left after that. Once the door slid shut, Jazz allowed himself to fully relax once more. This didn’t change much, not really, but he found he was a little upset he wouldn’t get much more time with the twins before...well, they were smuggled off the planet never to be seen again. Three solar cycles and he’d probably never see Jetfire and Jetstorm again…

It upset him more than he’d anticipated. Rationally, he knew they should be perfectly safe with Rodimus. But if something did go wrong? He’d have no way of knowing. If the twins were hurt on the mission with Rodimus he’d likely stay unaware. There was no real reason for Rodimus to send him of all mechs updates, after all... 

Jazz sighed, trying to calm himself and push the sentimental thoughts out of his processor. He sent a comm to the twins requesting their presence. He quickly received one back from Jetstorm saying they were on their way. He schooled his features and tried to prepare himself for the talk that was to come. He had to tell the twins they were going with Rodimus and that they could never return home to Cybertron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I decided on a double update before my trip!! I hope you enjoy! Thank you Hypo for the beta as usual :) Things are going to start picking up from here on out and we're gonna see a lot of characters come into the story soon!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz has to talk to the twins. It ends up being a harder conversation than he anticipated.

Jazz tried not to appear as tense and nervous as he truly was as he let the twins into his office. In truth, he was not prepared for this conversation. He didn’t know what to say to convince them to leave their home. Well, the truth was always an option but he’d really rather not have to tell them what Sentinel’s plans were. The truth was too harsh, Jazz had decided.

With the door locked and the twins’ full attention on him, Jazz realized it was now or never. He took a deep sigh, forcing himself to stay calm and trust this wouldn’t turn into a huge disaster. He took a seat across from the twins and began,

“You’re probably wondering why I called you here so suddenly.”

“It was of short notice.” Jetstorm commented. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah.” Jazz said lamely. “Yeah, you could say a lot of things happened… Look, I need you two to understand I care about you.”

Jetfire frowned.

“We know.” He said, “We care too. About you.”

Jazz tried not to let that knowledge move him too much.

“I’m glad you know that. Since you do, you can trust me, right?”

The twins nodded.

“Good. What I’m about to tell you stays between us, and Rodimus Prime. You can’t tell Sentinel. No matter what. Understood?”

The twins exchanged a confused look before turning back to Jazz. He could see a hint of anxiety underneath the confusion and as well warranted as it was, he didn’t want them to be worried. It hurt his spark more than expected to see it.

“Do you understand?” He asked again.

“Yes.” Jetfire answered first.

“Yeah.” Jetstorm followed, just seconds after his twin.

“Good.”  _ Here we go _ , “In little under an orbital cycle, Rodimus is leading an expedition that will take him far, far away from Cybertron. I’ve arranged for you two to be included in his crew. You two are leaving Cybertron with Rodimus and you _ can’t  _ come back.”

“ _What_?!” Jetstorm exclaimed. “Cybertron is _home_! What are you meaning we can’t come home!”

Jazz averted his optics, glaring at the ground as he tried to find the right words to say next.

“You’re in danger if you stay on Cybertron.” He settled on. “There’s...an event that Sentinel is planning around the same time Rodimus is set to leave. Due to the nature of this event I don’t believe you two will be safe if you stay.”

“ _ Event _ .” Jetfire repeated, frowning. “That is not clear enough.”

“You cannot be expecting us to run away if we aren’t knowing what there is to run from!” Jetstorm argued.

“Brother is right.”

“The Decepticons are being deactivated and I’m lead to believe there are Autbots that view you as one of them.” Jazz said, stunning the twins into silence. “I’m worried some bot might try something and you two could end up hurt, or  _ worse _ .”

“Mr. Sentinel won’t--” The orange jet tried, but was quickly cut off.

“Sentinel isn’t listening to reason and he doesn’t have your best interest at spark.” The white mech said sternly, “You can’t trust him to protect you or know what’s best for you. Not anymore, not without a war to justify your existence to him.”

The twins fell quiet. Jazz could only imagine the things going through their processors. He knew they looked up to Sentinel and wanted him to be proud of them. He also knew that despite how rudely he treated them at times, they still liked him. It couldn’t be easy to be told that Sentinel wouldn’t look out for them anymore. It only made Jazz more certain that the whole truth would crush them.

“The Autobots...they are really thinking we’re Decepticons?” Jetfire asked hesitantly.

“Not all of them.” Jazz said softly. “A lot of bots understand you two and admire the things you’ve done for the Elite Guard and Autobot cause. Rodimus and his crew included. But there’s enough of a threat that it isn’t safe for you two anymore.”

Jetfire nodded slowly, seeming to still be processing the information. Jetstorm didn’t seem to be doing much better.

“You can trust Rodimus to get you off of Cybertron safely.” Jazz tried.

“Why Rodimus?” Jetfire asked, “Why aren’t you coming?”

“I…” Jazz faltered, “You both know I’m due on Earth soon…”

Jetfire frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Come with us instead.”

“I can’t. Sentinel’s already ordered me to go to Earth sooner than I was supposed to. I can’t back out now.” Sentinel would know something was up for sure if Jazz backed out now. It’d blow the whole operation without a doubt. Still, even knowing that, a part of Jazz wanted to back out and go with the twins.

“Then we go to Earth with you!” Jetstorm said, as if it made perfect sense. “We are gone from Cybertron, it does not matter where we are, right?”

_ It would matter that Sentinel knew _ , Jazz wanted to say.

“You can’t come with me, it’s too risky.”

“And leaving with some Prime is not?” Jetfire countered. “We don’t know him.”

“We know  _ you _ .” Jestorm continued, “We trust  _ you _ .”

Jazz frowned. He wasn’t sure where to go from here. He knew the twins wouldn’t be happy to hear they had to leave, that they might try to fight it, but this was unexpected. He hadn’t realized how attached they’d gotten. He hadn’t realized how attached _ he’d _ gotten, really.

“Then trust me when I say going with Rodimus is the best option.” Jazz said finally, voice quiet. “If there was another way, I would’ve thought of it and gone for that instead. This is all I can do for you before I go. Don’t make me leave thinking you’re not gonna be safe.”

That seemed to do the trick. The twins visibly deflated a bit and went quiet. Their optics were swarming with emotion-- unspoken arguments and protests among other things Jazz could guess, but they stayed silent for the moment. He watched as the twins moved to hold each other’s hands, seemingly comforting each other through the small touch alone. Jestorm nodded and lifted his helm to look at Jazz.

“Ok. We go with Rodimus Prime.” He said, sounding defeated.

“Thank you.” Jazz said.

It looked like Jestorm wanted to say more, but was very clearly interrupted by a comm. Jetstorm answered the comm, a troubled look on his face. He nodded a few times, muttering a small “affirmative” before hanging up.

“Mr. Sentinel is putting us on a mission.” The blue jet said.

“When do you leave?” Jazz asked.

“Now.” Jetfire filled in. “We will be gone for four solar cycles.”

Four solar cycles? Sentinel was going out of his way to keep the twins and Jazz apart at this rate. Jazz frowned and sighed. This wasn’t how he pictured his last conversation with the twins going. It was far too sad of a departure.

“I’ll be gone by the time you two get back.” Jazz informed them. 

He didn’t miss the distressed look that crossed the twins’ faces. There were a thousand things left to be said, but another comm from Sentinel to the twins told Jazz the conversation was being cut short. He tried to ignore the pain growing in his spark as it really sunk in for him this was it.

“We...we need to go.” Jetfire quietly said. “Mr. Sentinel is getting not patient.”

“Ok…” Jazz said, feeling his spark sinking as the seconds ticked by.

The twins stood and started for the door, only stopping when Jestorm looked back.

“Goodbye Mr. Jazz.”

“Just Jazz.” The white mech said, forcing a small smile.

The twins tried to copy the gesture, but it was unconvincing at best.

“Goodbye Jazz.” Jetstorm said. Jetfire gave a small wave at his side.

“Goodbye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost thought I'd miss the Wednesday update for this!! I struggled so much writing this chapter, I don't know why... I hope this is an ok chapter, and next chapter is the end of my first planned "arc" so to speak!  
> Thank you so much to Sloth for the last minute beta-- you were amazing sweetie!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz leaves for Earth. Unbeknownst to the Autobots, enemies begin to lurk in the shadows.

Jazz was learning it wasn’t easy to say goodbye. It was hard to tell if his last conversation with the twins had been enough. He was replaying it over and over again in his mind, trying to figure out if there had been a better way to go about things. If there had been a way to make it sting less than it did right then. Rationally, Jazz knew it didn’t do any good to dwell on the past. The conversation was long done, the twins were on their mission, and Jazz was leaving to go to Earth.

His ship was nearly ready and he’d called Optimus earlier to let him know he would be on his way. He should have felt relieved leaving Cybertron behind, but there was an ever growing pit of anxiety within him going through every horrible “what if” his processor could think of.

What if Sentinel found out about his plans for the twins? What if Rodimus changed his mind? What if the twins were deactivated after all his efforts? What if, what if, what if… Jazz tried to shake the thoughts from his processor and focus on getting to the ship and getting away from Sentinel and all the problems he’d caused recently. On the way, he happened to see the mech in question waiting for him.

Sentinel was radiating a field of pride and arrogance, seeming so pleased to see Jazz leaving.

“Sir.” Jazz said in greeting, pausing to talk to his superior officer for-  _ hopefully _ \- one last time.

“Jazz. Today’s the day, huh?” Sentinel said, smirking, “I bet you’ve been dreaming about this for cycles.”

“In a way, yeah,” Jazz admitted. “Earth is a nice planet. Got good bots, and good people.”

Sentinel visibly winced at the thought of Earth and the organics. If there was one good part to all of this, Jazz knew that Sentinel wouldn’t be bothering him while he was away. If Sentinel didn’t absolutely have to leave Cybertron, he wouldn’t. Jazz would try to enjoy the space between him and the Magnus while it lasted. Hopefully it would for a long, long time.

“Yes, well… Everyone has flawed opinions sometimes. But if that’s how you feel, I won’t hold you up any longer.” The Magnus said, shaking his head. “Before you go though… You understand what I told you about the Decepticons being executed is confidential, right?”

“Of course, sir.”

“And you know that means no one can know about a certain pair of flying twins?”

Jazz forced himself to nod.

“I assumed as much.”

“Good. That’s good.” Sentinel seemed to relax a bit, giving a small laugh. “I can’t even imagine how Optimus would react if he knew. He just wouldn’t get it. He’s not smart like you;  _ you _ know how to follow orders. Anyways, go enjoy that horrible planet to the best of your abilities. I’ve got work to do.”

Sentinel turned and left Jazz, not even sparing a moment for a proper goodbye. Jazz figured that would be the easiest goodbye of his life. He wouldn’t regret leaving Sentinel behind, that was for sure.

The white mech took a moment to sigh and collect himself before he continued on to where his ship was waiting. He saw it in the distance and immediately noticed a figure next to it. Odd. He knew it wasn’t Sentinel, so who else would be sending him off? As he approached, the dark red and orange paint of Rodimus Prime’s frame came into view.

“Rodimus? Didn’t expect to see you before I left.” Jazz commented curiously. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to see you off.” Rodimus said, smiling a bit. He placed a servo on Jazz’s shoulder gently, “You don’t need to look so worried, you know. I’ll take care of Jetfire and Jetstorm. I gave you my word.”

Jazz let out an amused laugh. 

“I’m that obvious, huh?”

“Only a lot.” The red mech said, dropping his hand back to his side. “Try to relax, if you can. You’ll be off planet and soon enough, the twins will be too. They’ll be safe.”

“I know that. I trust you to make sure they are.” Jazz said, sighing. “I just don’t think I realized how hard it would be to say goodbye to them.”

“Sometimes you realize you care about someone at the least convenient of times. It can be hard, but what matters is you’re trying to do your part to help them.” Rodimus’ tone turned serious, optics trained on the ground as he spoke. Jazz had the feeling he was speaking from experience. “I...admire your strength in this situation.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure I could send them away if I was in your place.” Rodimus admitted. “Not that I would let them stay on Cybertron, but… Well, I have someone I care about. A lot. If this were him...I don’t think I could send him away, even if it was what was best for him. I would want to come with him-- or take him with me? Even if it could put him in danger, I don’t think I could let him go.”

“Rodimus, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing. I sure as Pit don’t know if I’m doing the strong thing.” Jazz said, voice quiet. “I’ve wondered a lot lately why I’m doing the things I’m doing… I’m worried what I’m really doing is being a coward. Like I’m running away from the problem instead of doing something about it.”

Jazz sighed heavily, closing his optics.

“I keep wondering if I should have fought Sentinel on this directly, or if I should’ve told the rest of the Elite Guard and forced a change… But that could have all ended so  _ wrong _ . He could have more of a pull than I anticipated, or the others could have sympathized with his thought process.” Jazz paused, feeling a strange weight as he spoke his next words, “I could have lost the twins for good if I’d made the wrong choice. I realized a while back...I don’t want to lose anyone I care about ever again. Not when I can do something about it.”

Rodimus’ optics were full of sympathy for the mech in front of him. Jazz wasn’t used to being looked at like that, to being pitied. He wanted to say something to change the subject, but found himself stunned into silence as Rodimus pulled him into a hug.

“You won’t lose the twins.” Rodimus said with conviction. He pulled away just as suddenly as he’d initiated the hug, but this time his optics were alight with newfound certitude. It was then that Jazz realized Rodimus hadn’t been pitying him at all. No, he’d been inspired by Jazz’s words. “I swear on my spark, I’ll do everything I can for them.”

“Thank you, Rodimus.” Jazz managed, still quite taken aback by the young Prime.

“No need to thank me.” Rodimus smiled. “Now go, I’m sure that Optimus and his group are eager for your arrival.”

Jazz nodded, returning the smile. Rodimus left him then, letting Jazz board his ship and begin his journey to Earth. As the ship began leaving Cybertron, Jazz didn’t even look back at his home planet. He was leaving with no regrets and no doubts that he’d done the right thing. He could leave Cybertron feeling wholey confident that he’d made the right choices.

Time passed rather quickly, Jazz mused. He was due to arrive on Earth in just under a megacycle. He’d allowed himself to be excited as he approached the planet. He was so close and things were going so well-- of course that’s when his ship’s alarms went off. The intruder alarms, Jazz recognized.

“Now how did that happen?” Jazz wondered aloud, frowning.

He grabbed his weapon and a set of stasis cuffs before turning the alarm off and going to confront his apparent intruder. He moved quietly, listening for anything that might give away the location of his stowaway.

He reached the storage room on the ship, finding the door open. He inched closer to the door, hearing voices just inside.

“You triggered the alarm!” An all too familiar voice whisper-shouted, “He is going to know!”

“It was cut off. He is probably thinking it was false alarms.”

Jazz froze. No.  _ No way _ . He rounded the corner quickly and found the last two bots he expected standing in the storage room. Jetfire and Jetstorm saw him and stood like turbofoxes caught in headlights.

This could not be happening.

“You…  _ What are you two doing here _ ?!” Jazz exclaimed in disbelief. “How did you get on this ship!?”

“We snuck on?” Jetstorm provided.

“Brother, you said he would be seeming happy to see us. He is not looking happy.” Jetfire cut in, shooting his twin an accusing glare.

“He is so happy to see us that he is angry.” Jetstorm said, far too confidently.

Jazz face palmed aggressively. He’d planned this all out so carefully, so how had things managed to go so wrong? He tried to compose himself and looked back at the twins.

“What are you two doing here? I thought Sentinel sent you away on a mission.”

“We decided not to go.” Jetfire said. “Going with you was better.”

“More important.” Jetstorm said in agreement.

There was a thousand things Jazz wanted to say to that, he just didn’t know where to begin. How had the twins done something so reckless? If Sentinel found out--  _ Wait _ , Jazz thought, They were thousands upon thousands of miles away from Sentinel. What could he do, this far away? Absolutely  _ nothing _ , that’s what.

Jazz hummed, deep in thought. This hadn’t worked out as he’d planned. None of this had, but maybe...maybe it was for the best? A small notification sounded on the ship, indicating that someone was trying to get in contact with him. Jazz figured it was Optimus. He sighed, shaking his head.

“Alright. This is happening.” He began, “It’s too late to turn back now.”

“Only a small bit.” Jetstorm said snarkily.

“I’m not happy about you two sneaking around like this, let’s be clear about that. But...I’m not mad about it either. Very not mad.” Jazz admitted. “Come on, there’s no point in staying holed up in this room.”

The twins exchanged a happy look before following Jazz out and back to the bridge. They quickly made themselves at home, inspecting every visible inch of the area they could get their servos on. Jazz ignored it and answered Optimus’ call.

The other mech appeared on the screen, looking pleased to see Jazz. Jazz tried to play it cool as he thought about what to tell Optimus, but in truth he was panicking.

“Optimus, there’s been a change of plans.”

**~*~**

Red optics snapped open in shock. Starscream shot up, immediately aiming his null rays every which way just in case he was under attack. Once he determined there was no threat, he took a more careful look at his surroundings. _ Oh great _ . He was still on Earth. He grumbled and stood up, optics dim with curiosity. Where was he and what had happened to him?

The memory files came back slowly. He remembered Megatron’s supposed final attack on Earth, the Supreme clones, that blasted Autobot ninja somehow summoning Allspark fragments. Oh right, he’d died again hadn’t he? Starscream scoffed. Nothing he wasn’t used to at this point. But if his memory was correct, didn’t that Autobot take his Allspark fragment?

He reached up and touched his forehead. It...wasn’t there. He frowned.

“Just what is going on?” He wondered aloud.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” A scratchy feminine voice caught him off guard.

He looked above him to find three of his clones in the sky. The femme, the purple coward, and the irritating blue one. He was mildly surprised, but who else would have helped him except for, well,  _ him _ ?

He smirked, flying up to meet them in the sky. Now things were getting interesting...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That wraps up the first "arc" of the story! Thank you to everyone who's stuck through for this long! I'm going to take a week off just to make sure I can stay ahead with this fic, but when I update next the real fun with Optimus and co. begins!  
> Thank you to Hypo for the beta!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz arrives on Earth. He and the twins reacquaint themselves with Team Optimus.

Jazz allowed himself to relax once on Earth. He was far away from Cybertron, from Sentinel and the Elite Guard. He didn’t have to feel on edge or as if Sentinel was about to burst in and ruin everything. For now, at least. While he was far away from a lot of his problems, the twins being with him could potentially cause an abundance of new ones. Right now though? He wasn’t going to think about that. He was going to enjoy his first moments on Earth and nothing was going to change that.

He was definitely smiling when he stepped off the ship. He didn’t care how silly he looked when he spotted Optimus and Ratchet waiting near their landing spot, he just felt a sense of _rightness_ wash over him. Like he was meant to be here, and everything he’d been working hard for was paying off.

“Jazz,” Optimus approached him, a gentle smile on his face, “It’s good to finally have you here.”

“It’s good to be here O.P.” Jazz said.

“I’m just glad another bot with sense is joining us.” Ratchet grumbled. The old medic looked from Jazz to the twins, stood just behind the white mech, and sighed. “Though I guess the universe works in trade offs and they even it out again.”

“What is he meaning?” Jetstorm asked, looking at Jazz, “We have many sense!”

“I...sure you do.” Jazz said, trying to sound remotely convincing. It must have worked, as Jetstorm smiled proudly and turned back to Ratchet as if Jazz’s strained approval proved his point. “Point is, we’re all happy to be here.”

“We’re all happy to have you here.” Optimus said gently. “Really. Things have been…”

“Messy.” Ratchet provided. “Ever since the supposed ‘final showdown’ with the Decepticons, things have been one Pit of a mess here.”

Jazz was surprised to hear that. As far as he knew, things had been perfectly fine on Earth. Though he supposed he wouldn’t have known if things had gone awry; all of his communication with Optimus while on Cybertron had gone through Sentinel. He doubted Sentinel would have taken any reports of things getting messy as urgent or even something he should consider his problem.

“Messy how?” He inquired.

“Decepticons.” Ratchet said.

“It isn’t anything we haven’t been able to handle,” Optimus said quickly, “But a few Decepticons have shown up and tried to cause issues. Most of the time they realize there’s no longer a base to build off and leave.”

“But some are stubborn and keep coming back.” The medic sighed.

“As long as Megatron stays in captivity, we don’t have to worry.” Optimus said quietly.

Jazz hummed in response. Sure, Megatron was in captivity but technically that would only be for so long. How would the ‘Cons react to their leader being executed? Would they take it as another declaration of war? Would they keep fighting if there wasn’t a leader to follow? Would someone worse step up to the plate…? He didn’t want to bring the issue up right then, but it was something that needed to be considered.

Briefly, he recalled what Sentinel had said to him before he’d left Cybertron. _“You understand what I told you about the Decepticons being executed is confidential, right? I can’t even imagine how Optimus would react if he knew. He just wouldn’t get it.”_ Jazz remembered him saying. _“He’s not smart like you; you know how to follow orders.”_ Orders that didn’t matter anymore, Jazz told himself. Sentinel wasn’t here, he wasn’t serving under the Magnus anymore, not technically. Optimus was his leader now.

“It isn’t that simple.” Jazz spoke up, deciding not to keep this secret from his new team. If they were having troubles with Decepticons, they deserved to know it could only get worse after the execution. “There’s some things you should know about Sentinel’s plans for the cons.”

Optimus frowned.

“We should talk about this back at base then. Bulkhead and Bumblebee should be just about done with patrol. Once they’re back, we can talk about Sentinel and the Decepticons.” Optimus said. He paused a moment, expression softening a bit. “We can get everyone acquainted with each other, too.”

“Sounds like a plan, Optimus.”

The Prime smiled.

“Alright. Ratchet and I will lead the way. Transform and roll out,”

The five of them quickly transformed, but then a very clear issue presented itself. Ratchet transformed back, giving the twins a curious look.

“They need Earth altmodes.” He said, “They can’t transform into automobiles, can they?”

“Nope.” Jazz answered. “They’re not like Blitzwing. It’s all flight altmodes with them. That a problem?”

“Some of the organics in the city have begun to associate flying Cybertronians with Decepticons…” Optimus said. “It doesn’t help that the twins have an altmode the organics would be unfamiliar with.”

The twins quickly transformed back into robot mode, looking a bit offended.

“It is not being our fault we’re like this.” Jetfire quickly defended, crossing his arms over his chest plates. “And we aren’t Decepticons!”

“The Earth organics should be knowing that.” Jetstorm added.

“They don’t know you, so they have no way of knowing that.” Ratchet argued. “But they’ll learn. They learned to trust us, they’ll learn the same with you two.”

Jetfire let out a huff.

“Earth organics are...what is it called?” The orange mech looked to his twin for help.

“Stupid?” Jetstorm offered.

“Yes. That.”

Jazz transformed, sighing heavily. He placed a servo on Jetfire’s shoulder, catching both of the twins’ full attention immediately.

“The organics here aren’t stupid.” Jazz began, tone gentle but stern, “If you’re going to stay here you need to understand that they’re still learning about us. It isn’t easy for them, so be patient, ‘kay?”

The twins sulked, posture deflating, but nodded.

“Yes Jazz.” They said in sync.

“Good. Now how about we get to base and then we can get you two some new altmodes?”

“I like my altmode how it is.” Jetfire muttered, but didn’t seem to have any further complaints. Jazz took that as a small victory and transformed again. Ratchet and the twins transformed back, and so Optimus began leading the way to base.

The group received a lot of odd looks as they traveled. Jazz couldn’t help but notice weary looks directed at the twins and silently hoped they weren’t paying attention to the humans as they flew. If he was lucky, they’d be too caught up in flying to really pay attention to anything else. He just hoped he hadn’t gotten them out of one bad situation and into another…

He was shaken from that train of thought when he realized they were nearly at the Autobot’s base. Optimus turned into the lot for the building they called home and transformed. The rest followed his lead, and entered the building.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead were already back, playing some fighting game while Sari watched. She was laughing about something, likely the fact that Bulkhead appeared to be losing horribly. None of the three seemed to notice they had visitors until Optimus cleared his vocalizer.

“Oh!” Bumblebee jumped, pressing the pause button and turned to face the crew, “Hey Bossbot. Didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”

“Pick up the new recruit safely?” Sari questioned, sitting up where she’d been lounging next to Bumblebee. “Whoa, I thought you said we were only expecting Jazz?”

“Yeah that’s two whole extra bots you got there.” Bumblebee chimed in.

“There was a change of plans. Nothing we can’t accommodate though.” Optimus said. He turned, gesturing towards the twins. “You’ve all met before, but given the circumstances I don’t think reintroducing ourselves would hurt. This is Jetfire and Jetstorm,”

“The two flying twins.” Bulkhead recalled. “Oh yeah, I remember them!”

Jetstorm considered Bulkhead for a moment.

“I remember fighting you.” He settled on. “I think I was the winning one.”

“I’m pretty sure I had the upperservo in that fight.” Bulkhead said, thinking about it. He was pretty sure he was right about this.

“Hmm. No, I won. That is how I am remembering.” The blue jet smirked, servo on his hip. “Oh and I am remembering your names now too! Green bulbous one,” He pointed to Bulkhead, “And Bumblebot.” Then to Bumblebee.

Jetfire nudged his brother,

“No, traitor Wasp called him Bumblebot. His name is Bumbleybee.”

“Oh?” Jetstorm made a thinking face, “You’re probably right.”

Bumblebee made a loud “ahem” noise, catching the twins’ attention. He didn’t seem mad over the utter butchering of his name, just incredibly amused. Sari was giggling next to him,

“Bumbleybee? You know what, I think I like that better. That’s your name from now on, Bee!”

“Not helping.” Bumblebee scolded. “I’m _Bumblebee_ . _Not_ Bumbleybee. Though you,” He pointed to Jetfire, “You get points for trying. Your brother not so much.”

Jetfire let out a small laugh, though clearly Jetstorm was less amused.

“I was trying!” The blue jet tried to defend himself.

“Yeah well you failed pretty spectacularly.” Bumblebee said, rolling his optics, “And _this one_ ,” He continued, motioning to Bulkhead, “Is not green bulbous one. His name is Bulkhead. Though now that I’m thinking about it, green bulbous one is probably an upgrade.”

“Hey!”

“What, it’s true.”

Optimus sighed.

“Anyways, on with the introductions--”

“Wait, Bossbot, I got this.” Bumblebee smirked. “I’m sure you know Bossbot is Optimus Prime, cool guy I guess, whatever, but I would like to bring attention to our lovely medic, Ratchet...or as I like to call him: grumpy _afthead_ \--”

“Bumblebee!” Ratchet snapped, “Don’t forget I’m in charge of your maintenance!”

Jetfire broke out into a fit of laughter. Jetstorm was at least half trying to hide his laughter, as poorly concealed as it was. Whatever dignity Ratchet might’ve had was officially gone. The medic growled, muttering several detailed threats towards Bumblebee as he turned to leave.

“Comm me when we’re being serious, Optimus!”

Optimus slapped a servo over his face, sighing tiredly.

“And this is a normal solar cycle for us.” He mumbled, giving Jazz an apologetic look.

“This is already better than the Elite Guard.” Jazz said, smiling. Sure, it seemed hectic as Pit, but he found he meant it. “I can dig the energy here. Really.”

Optimus smiled weakly.

“I’m glad you don’t regret your decision.”

Some commotion caught his attention and he glanced over, finding the twins already crowding the already too small couch to be with Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Sari. Sari was showing off her own transformations, namely her wings. The twins seemed enthralled by the fact she could fly. Optimus looked back to Jazz, only to find the mech completely focused on the scene. His expression was soft, softer than Optimus had seen from the mech before.

“I don’t regret it. Not one bit.” Jazz said softly.

Optimus allowed himself to smile. Things had been hard since Prowl’s sacrifice. He didn’t want to bring it up to Jazz, not yet at least, but he was beginning to think perhaps the added energy around the base would help everyone in their healing process. He decided to let the younger bots have their fun and suggested he and Jazz call Ratchet to discuss the Decepticons and the information Jazz had on Sentinel’s plans for them.

Jazz nodded, beginning to follow Optimus out of the room but paused at the doorway. He spared the twins one last glance. They looked...happy. Truly happy. He began to think, maybe them sneaking aboard his ship was the best thing that could have happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet y'all thought I was gonna miss the deadline!! Haha!!! I almost did. Oops? Thanks to my beta Hypo for reading this over and helping me through this chapter!  
> And a super duper very special thanks to pastelpaperplanes on tumblr! Thank you so so much for giving me a shout out! It means so much to me, you have no idea!  
> I have so many fun plans now that the gang's on Earth, I hope everyone enjoys!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jazz, Optimus, and Ratchet talk about the scheduled execution for the Decepticons. Starscream gets reacquainted with his clones.

Optimus, Ratchet, and Jazz gathered further into the base to let the rest of the team relax and have a good time. While Jazz thought it was important to inform the others of Sentinel’s plans, he didn’t want to ruin the good vibes just yet. But that didn’t change that Optimus and Ratchet needed to know at the very least.

“Alright,” Optimus said once the group was a good bit away from others, “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“It’s about the Decepticons.” Jazz said, getting straight to business, “You mentioned there were some rogue ‘Cons trying to cause problems here. I don’t know how to say this, but there’s a chance it could get a lot worse, real soon.”

Optimus’ optics widened, clearly surprised.

“What makes you say that?”

“Sentinel’s plans for the Decepticons on Cybertron.” He paused, closing his optics for just a moment to gather his thoughts clearly. He didn’t want to make Sentinel seem any worse in Optimus’ optics than he already was, but the acting Magnus was giving him no choice. “He’s going to execute the Decepticons.”

Ratchet cursed under his breath, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Has he considered what the consequences of his actions will be?!” The medic nearly shouted, “Does he think the rest of the Decepticons won’t react to their _ leader  _ being killed? He’s asking for another war!”

Optimus placed a servo on Ratchet’s shoulder, trying to calm him, but Ratchet shook him off. The medic clenched his fists at his side, glaring at a spot on the ground. There was a beat of silence as the news fully sunk in and for a moment, Jazz regretted saying anything.

“Maybe he can be reasoned with--” Optimus began, but was quickly cut off by Ratchet.

“You know him better than any of us. Do you honestly believe Sentinel will listen at this point?”

“I’ve been around Sentinel a lot these past few cycles.” Jazz cut in. “He won’t listen. Not to me, not to you, not to anyone. He thinks he’s got this figured out, but if the ‘Cons are active without Megatron or the others to lead them, they’re gonna  _ act  _ when he’s killed.”

“They’ll use it as a rallying call is what they’ll do.” Ratchet muttered. “He’s going to turn Megatron into the face of a rebellion.”

Optimus looked away, hurt and confusion clear on his face. It was undeniably hard for Optimus; even if their friendship hadn’t always been the best experience for Optimus, he cared about Sentinel. He wanted him to do well and succeed and become a good bot, a good leader. But Ratchet and Jazz were right, and he knew that. Why couldn’t Sentinel see that too?

“He never did think about what happens  _ after  _ he does something reckless.” Optimus said quietly. “Even back in the academy.”

“Some bots never learn.” Ratchet said.

“I’d hoped he would change when he became Magnus. Clearly, I was wrong.”

Jazz frowned and shifted where he stood. This was only going marginally worse than he’d anticipated. What mattered was that he’d told them, but then again he hadn’t exactly gotten out the whole truth yet. There was still the part about the twins. Sentinel had deemed them Decepticons and wanted them executed as well. It had been the final straw for Jazz, the point at which he knew for sure Sentinel was not a bot to be trusted.

But...it was hard to work up the nerve to bring it up when Optimus already looked crushed by Sentinel’s poorly thought out solution to the Decepticons in captivity. His silence must have caught the attention of Ratchet, who gave him a curious look.

“Let me guess. That’s not it, is it?” He asked, sounding far too tired.

“What else is there?” Optimus asked, frowning.

“It’s…” He hesitated. What was the right thing to do? “It’s nothing that doesn’t lead to the same thing.” He settled on, “Sentinel said a lot of things. But they all ended up at the same outcome: kill the ‘Cons.”

Optimus looked slightly relieved there was nothing else said to make Sentinel look worse and Jazz couldn’t help but feel like he’d made the right choice. He trusted Optimus with the information, of course, but if he could spare him just a little grief...it was a harmless lie to make.

“Alright.” Optimus sighed, “We need to prepare for things to get…”

“Wild?” Jazz provided.

“Putting it mildly, yes. Did Sentinel mention when he planned on executing them?”

“When he told me, he said an orbital cycle. We have time, but not much.”

Optimus hummed.

“There’s no telling if they’ll bother attacking Earth, or just attack Cybertron directly… But it’s best we try to prepare for a fight regardless.”

“And what are we supposed to do when hordes of Decepticons show up wanting to offline us all?” Ratchet asked snidely.

“We try our best, Ratchet.” Optimus said. “It’s all we  _ can _ do.”

**~*~**

“This is the best you can do?!”

Starscream’s shrill voice echoed off of the empty warehouse walls. He waltzed around the main area of the warehouse, sneering at the rust covered walls and the pieces of building that looked like they were just barely holding on. He let out a scoff and turned to face the trio of clones that had brought him here. The three who had revived him.

“Seriously, this is disgusting.” He said, motioning to the nearest rusted up wall.

“Just be grateful we let you in here at all.” His female clone snapped. “We could have left your body on the streets to rust.”

Starscream rolled his optics dramatically.

“That might have been better than subjecting myself to  _ this _ sorry excuse of a base.” He muttered. “This place doesn’t even look lived in. Weathered, sure, but lived in, not so much.”

“The three of us only found each other recently.” The femme explained. “We needed to make do and this place works fine. But if you hate it so much, you can leave. I don’t care. I didn’t want to bring you back in the first place.”

Though he mostly ignored what she said, the last bit did catch Starscream’s attention. He had been wondering what caused his clones to bring him back, seeing as last time he was with them they all turned on him. He turned to the three, giving them a curious look.

“Then why bring me back at all?” He asked, “Did you finally figure out you were nothing without me?”

“Trust me, the three of us are better than you’ll ever be.” She spat. “You’re only alive because Skywarp insisted on it.”

“Skywarp?” Starscream questioned. He noticed briefly the cowardly purple clone jump at the mention of the name and move to hide behind the blue one. The femme nodded towards the clone, and Starscream connected the dots. He couldn’t keep the amused look off of his face if he tried. “Oh, _ don’t tell me…  _ You named yourselves.”

“We did. Naturally, I picked the best one.” The blue clone said, smirking.

“I’ve got to hear this.” Starscream said with a laugh. He motioned towards the clones, “Go on, introduce yourselves. I’m sure you’ve worked very hard on this.”

“I’m Slipstream.” The femme spoke up. She pointed to the blue one, “He’s Thundercracker.”

“An excellent choice for an excellent bot.” The blue clone, Thundercracker, added in.  _ Primus, Starscream wanted to punch him. _

“And he,” Slipstream pointed behind Thundercracker to the purple one. “Is Skywarp.”

Starscream eyed the purple flier, only for him to shrink away and try to hide himself behind Thundercracker even further. Apparently he was the one he owed his reactivation to, but he was honestly shocked the coward had outlived him in the first place. Of all the clones, he’d fully expected him to bite the dust first.

“Wow, he’s even more pathetic than I remembered.” He sighed, “And you, Skywarp, was it, wanted me back?”

He approached the clone and as expected, the clone simply cowered behind Thundercracker’s wings.

“Must’ve realized he was nothing without the original.”

Within a second, a null ray was pointed at his helm. Slipstream, he noticed. Starscream didn’t budge, he simply hummed in amusement.

“You don’t get to talk to him like that.” She growled.

“You really don’t like me much, Slipstream.”

“No one likes an inconsiderate, rude--”

Starscream moved in a flash, reaching out and grabbing Slipstream by the arm. He twisted her arm and flipped her onto her back. He placed one of his thrusters on her cockpit to keep her down, putting more pressure than necessary just to add insult to injury. Thundercracker seemed surprised by the act but didn’t move to attack like Slipstream so foolishly had.

“What part of me are you again?” Starscream asked, leaning further onto the thruster keeping her down, “The part of me that doesn’t know how to shut up?”

When Slipstream lashed out, Starscream simply hopped off of her and backed away, smirking all the while. Skywarp actually moved out from hiding behind Thundercracker to help her up, pointedly keeping his optics off of Starscream while he did.

“Why did you want me back?” Starscream questioned the clone.

Skywarp startled a bit, looking at Starscream with wide optics before looking at the floor instead.

“It...didn’t seem right. Leaving you dead while we lived. We...came from you.” He managed, “I wanted you to have another chance…”

Starscream kept his expression neutral, but in truth he was a mixture of infuriated and amused. He hadn’t been far off from his original guess. It seemed Skywarp had less of a sense of individuality than the other two, and it had urged him into wanting Starscream back. But the fact that he only lived because of this coward? It was almost insulting.

He took a few steps towards Skywarp again, and this time the clone managed not to run for cover. He shook where he stood, but he held his ground. Somewhat.

“You did good.” Starscream said, shocking the purple clone.

“I-I did…?” Skywarp asked, optics searching Starscream’s for an answer.

“Of course you did. You brought me back, and you’d do it again, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes… Yes, of course I would!”

_ Too easy. _ Starscream turned to Slipstream this time. She seemed to see right through his empty praise and she wasn’t pleased with it. He didn’t care, of course. It was obvious Skywarp would be the easiest for him to manipulate and use to his advantage so what did she expect him to do?

“Why so sour? I’m being nice. Isn’t that what you wanted?” Despite his blatantly mocking tone, Skywarp didn’t seem to catch on. Instead he gave Slipstream a hopeful look, like this could someday become the norm for them all. Slipstream didn’t have it in her to shatter the delusion. Not right then, at least.

“You know why.” She muttered, optics narrowing. “You and I need to have a talk about how things are going to be from here on.”

“Do we?”

She only had to glare in response to communicate that yes, they were going to have a talk. Slipstream decided to order Skywarp and Thundercracker to go fuel hunting so only she and Starscream were left at the base. Once the other two fliers were gone, she turned to Starscream, still glaring. Her ability to hold such a bitter expression was impressive, to say the least.

“Let me make this clear. Skywarp wanted you back. Thundercracker and I did not. He wants you to have another chance and I’ll give you one, only because he asked. But you get  _ one. _ That’s all. If you try to use us or pull something stupid like last time, I’ll order Thundercracker to shoot you down, Skywarp’s _ feelings _ be damned.” Slipstream said, the threat clear in her voice. “We’re going to work as a team, are we clear?”

“Crystal.” Starscream snarked. “You’ve gotten soft, you know.”

Slipstream looked unamused at the jab.

“I have to get it from somewhere.” She looked Starscream up and down. “Maybe you aren’t as cold as you think you are.”

Starscream glared at her.

“I’ve never been known for my  _ soft side, _ I’ll have you know.”

“You have it in you to be nicer, then. Let’s put it that way.”

That didn’t sound better or less insulting to Starscream, but he bit back the slew of insults he wanted to hurl at Slipstream. It was better to play by her rules for the moment, loathe as he was to admit it. He could get Skywarp on his side, maybe Thundercracker...then things could change. But for now? He had to play nice.

Thundercracker would likely be all too glad to take out the original Starscream and Slipstream had more than made clear that was what she desired as well. And without knowing how  _ durable _ he was…

That reminded him. They’d chosen to bring him back. They’d had the option not to, but they found a way all the same. Was it another Allspark fragment they’d used, or was he really alive this time?

“Before I forget to ask. How did you bring me back?” He asked, reaching a servo up to his forehead. “I don’t feel an Allspark fragment.”

“...We found something. It’s...well, you should see for yourself.”

She led him to a room some ways into the warehouse and to a rusty mirror. He approached the mirror slowly, optics searching for any sign of what had been done to bring him back. She let out a small “ahem” and tapped on her cockpit, signaling for Starscream to open up his chest plates.

He did so, and was stunned to see he had a spark. That couldn’t be… Even when the Allspark fragment had made him nearly immortal, he hadn’t had a spark. Megatron had extinguished it long ago. He looked closer and saw something else.

It seemed like an Allspark fragment, right in the center of his spark. A rather large piece, one that actually appeared to be giving off the energy that was allowing his spark to even exist in the first place.

“What is this?” He demanded, looking at Slipstream. “Am I alive or…”

“It’s...something in between, I think. After the last battle with Megatron I found it; the Autobots were preoccupied so I took it and it...glowed. I could feel an energy coming off of it. Something told me it was stronger than what we all had before.” She sighed, looking somewhat troubled. “I wasn’t sure what it would do when I used it to bring you back. But I saw it reignite your spark with my own optics. I don’t know what that means in terms of you being  _ alive, _ but you’re functioning just fine. It’s doing its job.”

Starscream wondered how this was possible. Some empowered Allspark fragment wasn’t just found with no explanation-- something had to have caused this. It had been fine before with a normal Allspark fragment but this opened doors. If he could learn more about it, the possibilities could be  _ endless. _

“How interesting…” Starscream said, triggering his chest plates back into place. “We can test to see if it gives me any unique advantages later. For now, it would be good to know if it can at least bring me back after dying.”

“And how are we going to test that?”

He turned to hear, a certain amount of dread filling his tone as he spoke,

“Shoot me.”

“With pleasure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long to do. The past month has not been a good one and I honestly didn't feel up to writing this story while in such a bad headspace. I try to take Brighter Days very seriously and put a lot more effort into this fic than other stuff I write strictly for fun, so I didn't want a lackluster update, even though I'm worried that's still what this chapter is. Hopefully the chapter is enjoyable!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins pick out altmodes. Optimus seeks out Jazz for some advice.

Jetfire grumbled as he passed through yet another picture on the monitor before him. He and Jeststorm were supposed to be picking Earth altmodes and had been given quite the selection, but so far Jetfire seemed to dislike every single option he’d been faced with. It was growing more and more obvious this was not something he wanted to do, regardless of it being stressed to him how important it was to change his altmode.

“No.” He said simply, passing up another picture without even looking at it.

“Ok, you didn’t even try with that one.” Bumblebee said, sighing. “Look, just pick one roll with it. It’s not that bad having a new altmode! It’s kinda cool, actually.”

“But I’m not wanting a new altmode.” Jetfire said, passing control of the monitor over to his brother. “Why should I be having to change?”

“It makes the organics here more at ease if they’re able to recognize our altmodes. Their comfort is an important part of building and maintaining trust while we’re on this planet.” Optimus explained. “I know you might not like it, but it’d mean a lot to the people here if they were able to recognize your altmode.”

Jetfire sighed and nodded. He’d gotten this lecture before, but that didn’t mean he needed to be happy about it. Jetstorm tapped on his arm lightly to grab his attention and pointed at the screen. Jetfire glanced at it and frowned.

“How about this one?” Jetstorm asked.

“Ew. No.”

Bumblebee leaned over to take a look. He made a panicked noise, noticing the picture of a very distinct harrier jet on the screen, and quickly reached over to press skip. _Who’d put that one in the slides?!_

“Jetfire’s right, that one’s not good!” He said, “Uhh what abouuuut… This one?”

“I am liking it.” Jetstorm said, nudging Jetfire again.

Next up was a sleek jet, admittedly good for the twins’ sizes. Jetfire could see the label _“Tigershark”_ on the side of it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t his Cybertronian altmode either.

“No.”

Jetstorm sighed dramatically, surely rolling his optics under his visor.

“You are acting like protoform.” Jetstorm complained.

“Why don’t you guys just pick different altmodes? So that way Jetstorm can move on and Jetfire can...well...take his time, I guess.” Bumblebee suggested.

“We are needing same altmode or else we might not be able to combine into Safeguard.” Jetfire explained.

“Well that blows.” The yellow bot shrugged and looked at the screen again, watching as the twins passed by another handful of photos. He watched as several different styles of jets flashed across the screen until they all started to look the same to him. Eventually, Jetfire paused on one. “I like that one.”

“You do?” Jetfire asked, raising an optic ridge.

“Yeah. I think it’d suit you. Both of you.”

Jetfire hummed, clearly considering it. By his side, Jetstorm smirked. The blue twin propped an arm up on the monitoring desk and leaned his helm against his hand.

“Femme bots back home would like that one.” He said in a teasing, knowing tone.

Jetfire pushed him lightly.

“I do not care about what femme bots think. You know that.”

Jetstorm let out a laugh, but Bumblebee gave Jetfire a curious look.

“You don’t?” He asked, sounding a bit surprised.

“Hmm? No.” Jetfire said, shrugging. “Femme bots are never interesting to me. I like mechs better.”

“Huh. Noted.”

“You know as they say, that is making more for me.” Jetstorm said, grinning. Jetfire rolled his optics and turned back to the screen, giving the picture of the jet another look.

It would do just fine, but then again he could have said that about many of the previous options had he not been so picky. But this one _did_ seem rather nice… The jet in the picture was already blue, so he got a visual of how Jetstorm might look while transformed. Plus, Bumblebee seemed to like it. It wasn’t the worst thing to change into, he decided.

He looked at the label on the picture. _Sukhoi Su-34._

“It will do.” He said, finally.

“Finally!” His twin exclaimed. Jetfire glared at him, but Jetstorm didn’t seem to notice or care.

“That only took...a megacycle.” Optimus noticed, sighing. “At least it’s done. We’ll get those scanned in and--”

“And go on test run, right?” The twins asked in unison, a bright look in their optics. Clearly they expected the answer to be “yes” but Optimus honestly hadn’t even considered it. He considered agreeing, but where would they go to fly? Above the city could make the organics uneasy. But going away from the city might not be the best idea in case something happened while they were away.

Optimus hated to say no, but it just wasn’t the safest option.

“I’m afraid not.” He said, hoping to let them down easy. “I’m sorry to say but you might need to consider yourselves...well, grounded. Just for a little while.

“But…” Jetfire frowned.

“We didn’t do anything wrong...” Jetstorm added, clearly confused and upset.

“I wasn’t saying you did. You’re not in trouble or anything, it’s just not the best idea to let you two fly around right now. It isn’t safe.” Optimus tried to explain, but he could see in the twins’ expressions that he clearly wasn’t getting through to them.

He thanked Primus when he saw Jazz walk into the room. Even in the short period of time the trio had been on Earth, Optimus had caught on that the twins were more willing to listen to Jazz than anyone else. Lucky for him, Jazz seemed to notice something was wrong right away and walked over to the small group.

“Sup?” He asked, “Something wrong?”

“I was trying to explain--” Optimus began, but was quickly cut off by Jetfire.

“We are not allowed to be flying!” The orange bot complained.

“We didn’t _do_ anything to get punished!” His twin added quickly.

Jazz gave Optimus a confused look.

“It isn’t safe for them to go flying.” Optimus stressed. “The organics associate flying Cybertronians with Decepticons, and--”

“We aren’t Decepticons!” Jetstorm cut in, clearly past the point of just being frustrated. He looked genuinely angry now, and Jetfire didn’t seem far behind.

Jazz could see a fight just waiting to happen. A bad one. Optimus wasn’t aware of how the twins had _become_ flying Autobots, nor was he aware of the little white lie Jazz had told them that had prompted them to agree to leave Cybertron in the first place. They were likely still struggling with the fact that even some nameless mystery Autobots had viewed them as Decepticons. It definitely wasn’t going to help them see reason by saying the organics viewed them that way as well.

“Hey, he wasn’t saying you were ‘Cons.” Jazz said softly, placing a hand on Jetstorm’s shoulder. “The organics are still learning about us. We went through this, remember?”

“Yes, but--”

“But it isn’t fair, and I get that.” Jazz gave the twins a small smile. “I know how much flying means to you two, so I’ll work something out with O.P. There’s gotta be something we can do to make everyone happy here. Just give us a few days to find a good spot for you, got it?”

The twins looked at each other, expressions softening and posture relaxing just a bit. They didn’t seem mad anymore, but Jazz knew that didn’t mean they were happy with the situation.

“Ok.” Jetstorm said quietly. Jetfire nodded at his side.

After that, Bumblebee decided to try his hand at helping diffuse the situation. He’d offered to teach the twins how to play one of his fighting games and it worked surprisingly well at distracting them from the almost-argument that had broken out. Optimus seemed grateful.

“Thank you.” Optimus said, turning to Jazz. “I didn’t mean to offend them, I just… I guess I have to learn how to talk to them.”

“Don’t sweat it. They’ll get used to you and it’ll get easier.” Jazz promised. “It just takes them a while to understand other bots.”

Optimus looked over to where the twins and Bumblebee were. They seemed perfectly fine messing around with Bumblebee, hollering at the screen while the three of them played games together.

“It feels like they warmed up to Bumblebee rather quickly.” He muttered.

Jazz followed his gaze and frowned. He had to remind himself Optimus wasn’t like Sentinel when it came to leadership. Optimus very much wanted to be a friend _and_ a leader at the same time. Sentinel hadn’t cared about being anyone’s friend. If he could pull rank on him, that was all that mattered.

“Why don’t we walk and talk?” Jazz suggested, motioning towards the door. “I know I’ve been here a few solar cycles but I never got a proper tour of the base.”

Optimus seemed to snap out of wherever his thoughts were taking him and nodded. He led the way, motioning for Jazz to follow him. Optimus decided to start with the training area-- if it could be called that. It was no Elite Guard training room; just a few empty oil barrels for target practice, some machinery, and a lot of empty space likely reserved for larger bots like Bulkhead.

“The twins’ll tear this place up.” Jazz said with a small laugh. “Guess we gotta figure out a place for them to fly _and_ fight safely.”

Optimus cringed at the thought of the twins even just practicing using their abilities in this room. They would blow a hole in the wall for sure. Or several.

“Yeah… You know what, that sounds like a good idea.” He agreed. After a small pause, he cleared his vocalizer, “What… What do I have to do to earn their respect?”

“Jetfire and Jetstorm?” Jazz asked, considering the question for a moment. “Honestly just be kind to them. Work with them when they mess up or need help, be there when they need it, type of deal.”

“That’s all you did?” Optimus questioned, clearly not buying it.

“The twins had the choice between me or Sentinel.” Jazz said, frowning. “They’d follow Sentinel’s orders but when it came to the things they needed, they came to me. If they were feeling overwhelmed by the work they were given, didn’t understand what to do, or needed an escape… They came to me and I tried not to let them down.”

Optimus listened closely, letting Jazz talk. Putting it that way, as a choice between him or Sentinel, he could see why the twins gravitated towards Jazz. His exposure to Sentinel around the twins had mostly consisted of his old friend barking orders and shouting insults. He figured it would take a while to change what twins’ idea of a leader was, but he knew he could be patient for them. He’d had to be patient in the past to get where he was with his own team.

“I think it shows you did a good job keeping them happy.” Optimus said gently.

“Thanks… I tried to make sure they stayed safe.”

There was a comfortable silence that took over the pair. After a moment, Optimus continued the tour, showing Jazz some areas he’d already stumbled upon by himself, but there were a few new rooms he hadn’t been aware of before. They eventually made their way down a hall that led to where some of the team’s private quarters were. Jazz was familiar enough with the base to remember this was where Prowl’s room once was.

Jazz couldn’t help but come to a stop as they passed it. What would it be like if he peeked inside, he wondered. Was it the same as Prowl had left it? Had they changed anything? Was the room occupied by someone else now, or was it being used for something else…?

Optimus noticed Jazz had stopped following him and turned to find him frozen still some feet away. He felt his spark twist at the sight.

“We never did work up the courage to empty out his room.” Optimus said quietly, startling Jazz from his thoughts. “It’s still too fresh in our processors.”

Jazz nodded slowly.

“You can go in, if you want.” Optimus offered. “I know you two were...close.”

“I can’t.” Jazz said quickly. “I just...can’t.”

“I understand.”

Jazz forced himself to nod again, wanting this to be over. Prowl’s room was an obstacle he simply wasn’t ready to overcome. It was almost like he could still feel Prowl’s energy coming from the room, but he knew if he tried to sense it further, he’d find nothing. He’d find absolutely no trace of Prowl’s life energy and it would break him all over again.

“Jazz…?” Optimus asked gently, putting a hand on Jazz’s shoulder.

Jazz looked at him dumbly, not sure what to do or say.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.” He said, unconvincingly. “Just fine.”

“...If you aren’t, you can talk to me. I don’t just want Jetfire and Jetstorm to know they can trust me, I want _you_ to know that too.”

Rationally, Jazz knew that. Prowl had even spoken to Jazz about how much he’d trusted Optimus and it had gotten Jazz to trust Optimus with his life before he even officially joined the team. Prowl’s approval had been all he needed at the time, but then again Prowl wasn’t here now. And that was the problem, wasn’t it? Jazz was mourning the loss of Prowl, but so was Optimus. So was _the rest of the team._

He felt as though he was being selfish. He’d known Prowl for less time than the rest of them. If anything, they should be able to come to him for emotional support. Not the other way around. But Jazz couldn’t help how he felt. He’d cared for him so much…

“I just…” Jazz started, finding the words hard to piece together. “He…”

What was he supposed to say? Optimus looked so sad in that moment and Jazz knew if they talked about this, it wouldn’t make that look go away.

“I wanted to--” He found himself beginning to say, but a comm quickly cut him off. He was thankful the comm had stopped what was sure to be some emotional rambling he wouldn’t be proud of later.

_:Uhh hey I think there’s an emergency!:_

Bumblebee’s voice filled the commlink. He sounded stressed and slightly, ok scratch that, very terrified. Jazz and Optimus exchanged an alarmed look and the pair quickly began making their way back to the main room as Optimus commed back.

_:What’s the situation?:_

_:Bulkhead was on monitor duty and he said a Decepticon’s attacking the city!:_

_:Can he make out anything about the Decepticon? Anything to give us an idea what we’re up against?:_ Optimus asked.

_:Yeah.:_ Bumblebee paused, _:It’s_ **_Starscream_ ** _.:_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to get this out on time, I swear, but I got caught up looking at pictures of jets and watching tfa again. Can you blame me? Also learned the fun fact that apparently Starscream's jet mode is a fictional harrier jet! The more you know! I had a lot of fun looking at different jets and trying to figure out what their Earth altmode should be-- I hope you all like what I picked!  
> Happy uhhh Thundercracker Thursday, technically!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's team Optimus' first fight with their new members, Jazz, Jetfire, and Jetstorm. Can they defeat Starscream? Or is all not what it seems?

Optimus would have liked to say he was shocked to hear Starscream was back, but it seemed like no matter what victory they achieved over the Decepticons, that one Seeker would always find his way back to them. He wasted no time readying the team and heading out to stop him before he destroyed the city.

Jazz remembered the Decepticon well. The Elite Guard’s first encounter with him had shaken them all to their cores. Starscream had effortlessly taken down Ultra Magnus and, truth be told, him and Sentinel wouldn’t have made it out of that situation if not for Optimus taking charge. He’d survived more than a few battles with Decepticons after that and could only hope he’d make it out of this one too.

Optimus led the way to the area of the city Starscream was attacking, with Jazz to his right and Ratchet to his left, leaving the rest of the team to follow behind him. The twins flew overhead with Sari right behind them, keeping pace with the rest of the team. Jazz knew the twins could go faster, so he appreciated that they were seemingly waiting for orders.

It didn’t take long for the group to find where Starscream was. The flier was using his null rays to blast holes into any building he could see, smirking all the while.

“Come out, come out wherever you are, Autobots!” The Con said, firing at another building and blowing it to pieces, “At least make this a _ challenge _ for me!”

_ :He is wanting a challenge?: _ Jetstorm asked over comms, and Jazz could clearly see where this was going.

_ :Let us give him one: _ Jetfire said, taking off far ahead from the others, with Jetstorm following close behind him.

“Jetfire! Jetstorm!” Optimus tried, but the twins ignored him.

_ So much for waiting for orders _ … Jazz sped up and tried to beat them to Starscream, but he was no match for their speed. He got there just as the twins transformed and Jetfire hurled a fireball at Starscream, catching the Con’s attention. Starscream dodged it with little effort and turned to face the twins, clearly amused.

“Flying Autobots? Now that’s a joke.” Starscream scoffed. “You think you’re a match for me?”

“It is more like you thinking  _ you _ are a match for  _ us.”  _ Jetstorm said cockily.

Starscream’s smirk widened and he aimed a null ray at Jetstorm,

“Prepare to crumble before my greatness, Autobot!”

Luckily, before Starscream could do anything, Jazz watched as Optimus’ axe hit him upside the head, knocking him off balance. Jazz saw Optimus and the others quickly approaching and let out a vent he didn’t realize he was holding. _ Thank Primus. _

He turned back to Starscream just in time to watch the Con angrily pick the axe up and throw it back Optimus’ way with a vengeance.

“How dare you!” He shrieked, taking off and flying into the air to get the advantage on the group of Autobots.

Jetfire and Jetstorm readied themselves to attack. Jazz was grateful they were there, but worried for them as well. They could provide the aerial edge needed to take Starscream down, but they were still new to this. No matter what upgrades they’d gotten with the Elite Guard, it didn’t matter if their opponent could outsmart them.

“Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Sari, make sure no civilians are injured and get everyone to safety. Jazz, Ratchet, I need you two on standby. I think I can get Starscream grounded with the help of the twins, and once I do I need you two to be ready to help me take him down for good.” Optimus said, activating his own jetpack.

“Roger that,” Bumblebee said, taking off with the others to do as they were told.

Ratchet nodded, but turned to Optimus.

“Be careful up there. Something...isn’t right.” He said, hesitating slightly.

“It’s too easy.” Jazz agreed. “All of us against him, and I don’t think it's even registered for him how outnumbered he is.”

“All the more reason to stop him before he can do something to turn the tables on us.”

Jazz watched as Optimus took off and saw the twins already in a fight with Starscream. Jetfire’s fire abilities were doing almost as much damage as Starscream’s initial attacks were and Jetstorm was turning out to be only slightly less destructive.

Optimus approached Starscream from behind, but somehow the Decepticon seemed to know exactly where he was. He turned quickly and shot at Optimus, catching his jetpack and sending him spiraling out of the sky. Ratchet moved quickly to make sure he didn’t crash, using his magnets to catch him.

“You think you can outsmart the mighty Thundercracker?” The Decepticon sneered, and before anyone could react, two more Seekers appeared in the sky with a flash of purple smoke, right behind the twins and shot them both in the back.

“It wasn’t Starscream at all,” Optimus realized as he touched the ground, “It’s his clones. This was all a trap, and we walked right into it.”

One of the Seekers disappeared and reappeared right behind Ratchet, a null ray pressed to his back, ready to fire. Ratchet, Jazz, and Optimus all froze.

“Surrender, or I’ll shoot him.” The Seeker, purple and black, Jazz noted, said in a tone that was shockingly lacking any confidence. The Decepticon had them right where he wanted them, and he didn’t even sound like he realized that.

From the corner of his optic, Jazz watched as the other Seeker who had appeared flew off, likely to find Bumblebee and the others. Meanwhile, the one who called himself Thundercracker was taking advantage of the fact the twins had suffered from the surprise hit and attacked them full force, hitting Jetfire hard enough with a blast that he was knocked through a building and cleanly out of the sky.

He had to get up there to help them, but  _ how?  _ He turned to the purple Seeker, now noticing his nervous posture and the fact he was trembling. What was with this Decepticon? He was nothing like Starscream or Thundercracker.

“Easy, mech,” He tried, holding his servos up to show he meant no harm. “No need to make any threats here. One of us is injured, he’s a medic, I’m currently unarmed. We’re no threat.”

Optimus gave Jazz a questioning look, one that Jazz returned with one that he hoped conveyed he needed Optimus to  _ trust him _ here.

“I… How do I know you aren’t trying to trick me?” The Seeker asked, frowning. “You’re the enemy, that sounds like something you would try to do…”

“I’m not, I don’t roll like that. Now why don’t you let my friend go, and we can talk about this. No need for violence,” Jazz tried. He could tell he was getting through to the Decepticon, oddly enough.

Just when Jazz thought the Decepticon was going to listen, a scratchy female voice shouted at them from above,

“Skywarp, what are you doing?! Shoot them!”

“Slipstream!” The purple Decepticon, Skywarp, seemed startled by her presence. “I-I-”

She rolled her optics and aimed at Ratchet herself.

“If you can’t do what needs to be done, I will!”

Immediately, she fired off two shots at the medic. Jazz sprung into action just in time to knock Ratchet out of the way, but a startled shot from Skywarp hit him in the shoulder. He hit the ground roughly, irritating the wound, but he pulled himself up despite the pain.

Slipstream flew down lower to the ground, giving Jazz and Ratchet an unamused glance before focusing on Skywarp.

“You fool. You could have had all three of them dead by now.” She scolded, shaking her helm.

“I’m sorry--”

“Don’t apologize, we can still end this.” Slipstream said, placing a servo on Skywarp’s shoulder. “Now, this time when I tell you to shoot them,  _ do it.” _

“Over my offlined body!” Optimus called out, coming in fast with his axe and swinging at Slipstream once she was in range for the attack.

Slipstream narrowed her optics, but stayed completely still. She was completely unbothered as the axe hit her-- or should have, but it went straight through her as if it were passing through air. Optimus’ optics widened in shock. He wasn’t given any time to recover before Slipstream sprung into action and kicked him _ hard  _ in the midsection, sending him flying a few feet back.

“Wh-what--” Optimus sputtered as he tried to stand, but could only make it to one knee.

“We may all come from Starscream,” Slipstream explained as she approached Optimus, “But we each have a unique ability that sets us apart. Mine is phase shifting.”

She raised a null ray right to Optimus’ face. Behind, Optimus could see Jazz try to spring into action but this time Skywarp boldly stepped in front of him, aiming his own null rays at the mech. Optimus could see his options disappearing by the minute. This fight was as good as over.

**~*~**

Thundercracker was dominating the fight with the flying Autobot twins. _ Fools, _ he thought to himself as he fired at the orange one. They had their abilities, and they were quite quick to react, but they had no idea what he was fully capable of yet. Lucky him, the twins seemed to be full of surprises as well.

“Jetfire!” The blue one called out to his twin, panting heavily, armor scorched from the damage he’d sustained thus far. They seemed to communicate wordlessly what to do next, and Thundercracker allowed them to get to each other, curious as to what their next move was.

They combined into a bigger, presumably stronger bot. One that could wield both of their abilities at the same time, Thundercracker quickly noticed. No matter. This was obviously all they were capable of and he had yet to show his trump card.

He dodged an attack that came a little too close to actually hitting, sending out a few consecutive blasts of his own to ward them off. From his position in the sky, he could see Slipstream and Skywarp among the destruction he’d caused. They had three Autobots at their mercy and if Slipstream was back, that meant the stragglers who left early on were likely taken care of.

Thundercracker smirked. It was about time to finish this, wasn’t it? He dodged another attack from the combined twins and headed towards the ground. When he landed, his optics met Slipstream’s. She nodded, clearly understanding what the plan was.

Skywarp had his teleporting, Slipstream her phase shifting, it was time to show the Autobots what Thundercracker was capable of.

The twins combined form touched down on the ground, falling into his trap.  _ Show time. _

“Foolish Autobots.” Thundercracker sneered, quickly transforming and taking off towards the sky at top speed. The result was an intense and powerful sonic boom that shook the ground and left the windows of the few buildings that hadn’t been damaged in the fight promptly shattering. The sheer  _ force  _ of the sonic boom hit Jetfire and Jetstorm head on, propelling them back into a building and this time, they didn’t get back up.  _ None _ of them did. The sonic boom had likely shaken them all to the core-- quite literally. Hopefully it had rearranged their circuits enough to offline them permanently. 

Thundercracker transformed once more once he was in the sky and looked at the damage he’d done with pride. Skywarp and Slipstream teleported next to him after a moment.

“Well, if they aren’t dead after that they won’t be a problem for a while.” Slipstream noted, servo on her hip.

“Hmm. If only I’d built up enough energy during the fight to level the whole disgusting city. Oh well, this was more than enough.” Thundercracker said, wings held high.

“Starscream will be pleased.” Skywarp said softly, looking at the destruction and fidgeting with his digits, “He will be.” He reiterated, almost to convince himself of his own words.

“Of course he will be.” Slipstream said, barely resisting the urge to roll her optics. “We  _ won. _ What more could he ask for?”

Skywarp nodded, taking a nervous vent before reaching out and touching Slipstream’s shoulder. She did the same to Thundercracker and the three disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, leaving their destruction of Detroit and the Autobots behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaack! Sorry this fic took so long to update, things have been wild to say the least. I'll admit I was rather stuck with the combat scene I needed to write, even if I knew exactly where I needed to go with it. I did end up changing the end of the chapter a bit so some very fun information is left for next chapter, but I do hope this chapter is enjoyable and at least somewhat worth the wait. Fighting scenes aren't my strong suit, but I tried!!
> 
> I also have some very fun art to share! [Moonwatcher404 so kindly did a piece showing what the Jettwins new altmodes would look like!!](https://www.deviantart.com/moonwatcher404/art/Jettwins-Earth-Altmode-849566333?ga_submit_new=10%3A1595440342) Thank you so much for that!
> 
> And lastly an update for my updating schedule: I know when this story started I wanted to update every Wednesday, but I think I'm going to have to push it back to biweekly updates. I know where this world all goes, and I have this fic planned out pretty decently, and I'm starting to flesh out the follow ups to this just to plan ahead, but things are pretty wild in the world right now and things haven't been the easiest for me. So biweekly is the best I can promise right now. So sorry for the sudden break, I hope it doesn't have to happen again!

**Author's Note:**

> I just had to start posting this fic on the last Wheeljack Wednesday of 2019!! Updates will be scheduled for Wednesdays normally :) Thank you to Hypo for the beta!


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